Archaeological Survey at Rancho de las Cabras, San Antonio Missions National Historic Park, 41WN30, Wilson County, Texas

A two-stage archaeological investigation and preliminary geomorphological assessment was conducted at Rancho de las Cabras, San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, by the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) of The University of Texas at San Antonio for the National Park Service (NPS). The investigation was prompted by NPS plans to construct a parking lot and visitors\u27 center near the Spanish colonial ruins (41WN30). The geomorphological investigations are preliminary, with more fieldwork needed to test the proposed working model; however, the geomorphological conclusions suggest widespread potential for finding buried prehistoric sites in the alluvial terraces. Four newly identified surface lithic scatter sites were recorded and mapped. Sites 41WN90, 41WN92, and 41WN93 are presently on NPS property and 41WN91 is located on private land. These sites are located in the upland Early to Middle Pleistocene Leona Formation. Due to the paucity of surface and subsurface cultural material, and to previous subsurface disturbance in the form of deep root cutting and plowing, the four sites are considered to have minimal research potential. The three sites on NPS property are currently included in the National Register nomination filed in 1977; however, the systematic collection of surface artifacts conducted during the current investigation, has in effect, mitigated these sites by exhausting their research potential. Site 41WN91, located on private property, is not recommended as eligible for inclusion in the National Register. During the course of the archaeological investigation, two important cultural areas were identified near the Las Cabras ruins. Artifacts recovered near the western edge of the ruins demonstrate their association with the Colonial ranch; this area has been identified as culturally sensitive. West of the ruins, the second area is comprised of an isolated dark soil (over-thickened A-horizon) which may have formed from anthropogenic activities related to the Colonial ranch. Therefore, prior to any future ground disturbing activities, it is recommended that additional testing be conducted in the archaeologically sensitive area, the over-thickened A-horizon, and the alluvial terraces

A new Determination of the Extragalactic Background of Diffuse Gamma Rays taking into account Dark Matter Annihilation

The extragalactic background (EGB) of diffuse gamma rays can be determined by subtracting the Galactic contribution from the data. This requires a Galactic model (GM) and we include for the first time the contribution of dark matter annihilation (DMA), which was previously proposed as an explanation for the EGRET excess of diffuse Galactic gamma rays above 1 GeV. In this paper it is shown that the newly determined EGB shows a characteristic high energy bump on top of a steeply falling soft contribution. The bump is shown to be compatible with a contribution from an extragalactic DMA signal from weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with a mass between 50 and 100 GeV in agreement with the EGRET excess of the Galactic diffuse gamma rays and in disagreement with earlier analysis. The remaining soft contribution of the EGB is shown to resemble the spectra of the observed point sources in our Galaxy.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Accepted by A&A, made Fig. 4 and table 1 consisten

Development and status of protection functions for the normal conducting LINAC at ESS

The European Spallation Source faces a great challenge in succeeding with its ambitious availability goals. The aim is to construct a machine that allows for 95% availability for neutron beam production. This goal requires a robust protection system that allows for high availability by continuously monitoring and acting on the machine states, in order to avoid long facility downtimes and optimize the operation at any stage. The normal conducting section consists of the first 48 meters of the machine, and performs the initial acceleration, bunching, steering, and focusing of the beam, which sets it up for optimal transition into the superconducting section. Through a fit-for-purpose risk management process, a set of protection functions has been identified. The risk identification, analysis, and treatment were done in compliance with modern safety and ISO standards. This ensures that the risks, in this case downtime and equipment damage, are properly prevented and mitigated. This paper describes this process of defining the protection functions for the normal conducting LINAC at ESS

Comparison of Three Aspirin Formulations in Human Volunteers

<p>Introduction: The treatment of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) includes the administration of aspirin. Current guidelines recommend chewing aspirin tablets to increase absorption. While this is intuitive, there are scant data supporting this recommendation. The purpose of this study is to assess which of 3 different aspirin formulations is most rapidly absorbed after ingestion.</p> <p>Methods: A prospective, open-label, 3-way crossover volunteer study at a tertiary university medical center with human subjects 18 years or older. Fasted subjects were randomly assigned to receive aspirin 1,950 mg as (1) solid aspirin tablets swallowed whole, (2) solid aspirin tablet chewed then swallowed, or (3) a chewable aspirin formulation chewed and swallowed. Serum salicylate measurements were obtained over a period of 180 minutes. Pharmacokinetic parameters were determined.</p> <p>Results: Thirteen males and 1 female completed all 3 arms of study. Peak serum salicylate concentrations were seen at 180 minutes in all groups. Mean peaks were 10.4, 11.3, and 12.2 mg/dL in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Mean area under the time concentration was 1,153, 1,401, and 1,743 mg-min/dL in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. No measurable salicylate concentrations were seen in 6 subjects in group 1 at 60 minutes as compared to 1 subject in group 2. All subjects in group 3 had measurable levels at 45 minutes. There were no adverse effects in any of the subjects during the study period.</p> <p>Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that the chewable aspirin formulation achieved the most rapid rate of absorption. In addition, the chewable formulation absorption was more complete than the other formulations at 180 minutes. These data suggest that in the treatment of ACS, a chewable aspirin formulation may be preferable to solid tablet aspirin, either chewed or swallowed. [West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(4):381–385.]</p

Royal Coachman (41CM111) An Early Middle Archaic Site along Cordova Creek in Comal County, Texas

The Royal Coachman site, 41CM111, is bisected by FM 306 near the highway’s eastern crossing of the Guadalupe River. Archeologists from the Texas Department of Transportation conducted extensive excavations at the site in 1980 and the Center for Archaeological Research carried out fieldwork related to geomorphic assessment of the deposits in 2002. The site contains at least three archeological components, an upper zone that may be of late Middle Archaic age and two commingled lower zones that are early Middle Archaic in age and contain a mix of Nolan/ Pandale and Bell-Andice/Early Triangular points. The deeper, more strongly manifested archeological components are associated with a dense burned rock sheet midden composed of two in situ features among a dense scatter of highly disturbed burned rock. Radiocarbon assays place this zone at between 5320–5880 years BP. The lithic assemblage is suggestive of tool manufacture and retooling activities and the projectile point collection is dominated by Early Triangular points and preforms. It is the recommendation of CAR that site 41CM111 warrants designation as a State Archeological Landmark and is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places because of its significant contribution to a better understanding of the regional archeological record. We believe that these investigations have resulted in an appropriate level of work to evaluate the archeological property within the highway ROW and no further work is currently recommended. We also recommend that TxDOT consider avoidance as an option during future construction activities to avert impact to remaining deposits. In addition, if new ROW is acquired, additional work is warranted to determine the extent and significance of currently unidentified material. This work was conducted under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 2807

Applying the functional system interaction process at ESS

The European Spallation Source ERIC is being built in Lund, Sweden to complement the existing neutron sources in Europe and worldwide. ESS will be the brightest neutron source ever built upon completion and aims to have an availability of 95% during steady state operations. The purpose of Machine Protection at ESS is to protect the equipment in order to support the high availability. Due to the distributed nature of Machine Protection numerous design teams are involved to implement Protection Functions. The Machine Protection development at ESS follows the Functional Protection lifecycle for System-of-Systems developed at the facility. This paper focuses on the application of the Functional System Interaction Process part of the Functional Protection method. To obtain the system interaction model, behavioural requirements and allocate Protection Functions, System Interaction Use Case workshops are held. The feasibility of different system architectures and protection function implementations are discussed and simulated by going through foreseen operational sequences, use cases. The different architectures and use cases are documented using Enterprise Architect

Adaptive optics performance of a simulated coronagraph instrument on a large, segmented space telescope in steady state

Directly imaging Earth-like exoplanets (``exoEarths'') with a coronagraph instrument on a space telescope requires a stable wavefront with optical path differences limited to tens of picometers RMS during exposure times of a few hours. While the structural dynamics of a segmented mirror can be directly stabilized with telescope metrology, another possibility is to use a closed-loop wavefront sensing and control system in the coronagraph instrument that operates during the science exposures to actively correct the wavefront and relax the constraints on the stability of the telescope. In this paper, we present simulations of the temporal filtering provided using the example of LUVOIR-A, a 15~m segmented telescope concept. Assuming steady-state aberrations based on a finite element model of the telescope structure, we (1)~optimize the system to minimize the wavefront residuals, (2)~ use an end-to-end numerical propagation model to estimate the residual starlight intensity at the science detector, and (3)~predict the number of exoEarth candidates detected during the mission. We show that telescope dynamic errors of 100~pm~RMS can be reduced down to 30~pm~RMS with a magnitude 0 star, improving the contrast performance by a factor of 15. In scenarios where vibration frequencies are too fast for a system that uses natural guide stars, laser sources can increase the flux at the wavefront sensor to increase the servo-loop frequency and mitigate the high temporal frequency wavefront errors. For example, an external laser with an effective magnitude of -4 allows the wavefront from a telescope with 100~pm~RMS dynamic errors and strong vibrations as fast as 16~Hz to be stabilized with residual errors of 10~pm~RMS thereby increasing the number of detected planets by at least a factor of 4.Comment: Published in JATIS. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2108.0640

Оплата труда и стимулирование трудовой деятельности в организации ООО "ТСМ Ковчег"

Объект исследования в выпускной квалификационной работе – оплата труда и стимулирование трудовой деятельности ООО "ТСМ Ковчег". Цель выпускной квалификационной работы заключается в разработке рекомендаций по совершенствованию системы оплаты труда и стимулирования трудовой деятельности в организации. В целях решения поставленных в выпускной квалификационной работе задач, применялись методы познания: аналитический, структурный, системный и метод экономического анализа. При проведении прикладного анализа выявилась возможность представить рекомендации по совершенствованию системы оплаты труда и стимулирования трудовой деятельности в организации ООО "ТСМ Ковчег".The object of research in the final qualifying work is payment for labor and stimulation of labor activity of LLC "TSM Kovcheg". The purpose of the final qualifying work is to develop recommendations for improving the system of labor remuneration and stimulating work in the organization. In order to solve the tasks set in the final qualifying work, methods of cognition were used: analytical, structural, system and method of economic analysis. When carrying out applied analysis, it became possible to provide recommendations on improving the system of labor remuneration and stimulating work in the organization of LLC "TSM Kovcheg.

New solar axion search in CAST with 4^4He filling

The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) searches for $a\to\gamma$ conversion in the 9 T magnetic field of a refurbished LHC test magnet that can be directed toward the Sun. Two parallel magnet bores can be filled with helium of adjustable pressure to match the X-ray refractive mass $m_\gamma$ to the axion search mass $m_a$. After the vacuum phase (2003--2004), which is optimal for $m_a\lesssim0.02$ eV, we used $^4$He in 2005--2007 to cover the mass range of 0.02--0.39 eV and $^3$He in 2009--2011 to scan from 0.39--1.17 eV. After improving the detectors and shielding, we returned to $^4$He in 2012 to investigate a narrow $m_a$ range around 0.2 eV ("candidate setting" of our earlier search) and 0.39--0.42 eV, the upper axion mass range reachable with $^4$He, to "cross the axion line" for the KSVZ model. We have improved the limit on the axion-photon coupling to $g_{a\gamma}< 1.47\times10^{-10} {\rm GeV}^{-1}$ (95% C.L.), depending on the pressure settings. Since 2013, we have returned to vacuum and aim for a significant increase in sensitivity.Comment: CAST Collaboration 6 pages 3 figure