New Early Miocene Formation and Vertebrate Local Fauna, Big Bend National Park, Brewster County, Texas

Contents: Abstract -- Introduction -- Acknowledgments -- Localities -- Synopsis of Fauna -- Part I: Geology -- Part II: Systematic Descriptions, Excluding Lagomorpha -- Part III: Systematic Descriptions, Lagomorpha -- Part IV: Age and Interpretation of the Castolon Local Fauna -- Literatrue CitedThe early Miocene Delaho (new) Formation is a locally derived sequence of basin fill sediments now severely deformed by later Tertiary normal faulting. These sediments contain the Castolon local fauna comprising seventeen mammalian taxa. Three genera are new. Age of the Castolon local fauna is considered middle Arikareean, and differences between it and other Arikareean faunas are caused in part by ecological bias.Texas Memorial Museu

Cost Estimating and Forecasting for Highway Work in Kentucky [1996]

There is a need for better cost estimating and forecasting for highway work in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. KRS45.245 grants the Interim Joint Committee on Transportation oversight of the biennial highway plan, including a review of all authorized highway project phases that exceed their estimates by 15%. In recent years, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has suffered the loss of many resources necessary to produce good cost estimates. Estimates developed using current methods are not sufficiently accurate to preclude cost overruns in excess of 15%. Over the 1992 and 1994 bienniums, 362 overruns totaling $162,487,511 have been submitted to the Committee. All have been approved for additional funding. KYEstimate, a cost-per-mile model, has been developed to improve estimates made in the district offices. This program uses preconstruction and construction data to calculate a unit cost for projects. New projects may then be estimated on past cost of similar projects

Effect of the Coriolis Force on the Hydrodynamics of Colliding Wind Binaries

Using fully three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, we investigate the effect of the Coriolis force on the hydrodynamic and observable properties of colliding wind binary systems. To make the calculations tractable, we assume adiabatic, constant velocity winds. The neglect of radiative driving, gravitational deceleration, and cooling limit the application of our models to real systems. However, these assumptions allow us to isolate the effect of the Coriolis force, and by simplifying the calculations, allow us to use a higher resolution (up to 640^3) and to conduct a larger survey of parameter space. We study the dynamics of collidng winds with equal mass loss rates and velocities emanating from equal mass stars on circular orbits, with a range of values for the ratio of the wind to orbital velocity. We also study the dynamics of winds from stars on elliptical orbits and with unequal strength winds. Orbital motion of the stars sweeps the shocked wind gas into an Archimedean spiral, with asymmetric shock strengths and therefore unequal postshock temperatures and densities in the leading and trailing edges of the spiral. We observe the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at the contact surface between the shocked winds in systems with orbital motion even when the winds are identical. The change in shock strengths caused by orbital motion increases the volume of X-ray emitting post-shock gas with T > 0.59 keV by 63% for a typical system as the ratio of wind velocity to orbital velocity decreases to V_w/V_o = 2.5. This causes increased free-free emission from systems with shorter orbital periods and an altered time-dependence of the wind attenuation. We comment on the importance of the effects of orbital motion on the observable properties of colliding wind binaries.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Hydrographic and climatological study of Area M-3 - Ecological Survey of Area M-3

In order to obtain information on the characteristics of water and climate that prevail in Galveston Bay, East Bay, and West Bay, established stations were sampled regularly. Information derived from samples included water temperature and salinity. Additional information of this nature was derived from other bay studies. Information on river flow, air temperature and wind were derived from publications. Water temperatures were found to follow air temperatures closely. The prevailing winds in all but two months were on-shore winds. Salinities were found to vary inversely with the volume of fresh water entering the bays from the Trinity River. West Bay, due to its locations, is affected less than the other bays by fresh water from the Trinity River. Vertical and horizontal salinity gradients were found to be the normal pattern in East Bay and Galveston Bay. West Bay, with two major passes to the Gulf of Mexico and with no major source of fresh water, normally maintained higher salinities than the other bays

Rat Race: Insider Advice on Landing Judicial Clerkships

For many, the judicial clerkship application process is, to quote Sir Winston Churchill, a “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” It is a frenzied “Pamplona-like” atmosphere that begins on Labor Day +1 and continues unabated for several weeks. The initial week is the make or break point in the application review process because it is then that the judge starts to read each application and makes a “yes” or “no” evaluation. If his vote is a “no,” then no further action is taken. If it is a “yes,” the application passes to the law clerks, who then begin their evaluation. Our experience reviewing these applications has led us to the unanimous conclusion that many applicants select their list of judges and put together their packets with little or no thought of strategy as to how to get their applications past this initial phase and into the “yes” pile. We would like to guide the judicial clerkship applicant through the application process by discussing how our chambers conducts the interview and selection process. Specifically, we hope to dispel rumors of what goes on behind the curtain, and ultimately shed some light on how a clerkship applicant could improve his or her chances of receiving an offer. Although this article reflects the viewpoint of only one chambers, our collective experience is broad. Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert has been receiving law clerk applications, interviewing candidates and selecting clerks since 1961. From the standpoint of sheer experience in the law clerk selection process, Judge Aldisert must be near the top of the list of current federal appellate judges. His two present law clerks, Ryan Kirkpatrick and James Stevens, each wear two battle stars for action in the application process. Kirkpatrick and Stevens earned their first star in 2004 when they survived the initial post-Labor Day “running of the bulls,” a term which appropriately describes the federal judiciary’s present hiring plan. The two clerks earned their second star a year later when they closely examined each of the 200 applicants in the 2005 “stampede” and ultimately helped to select the two best candidates to go on to future honors. The authors are fully aware that there is a vast amount of literature discussing the clerkship application process. Most of the literature is couched in somber academic tomes, one of which was serious enough to require 334 footnotes. Our treatment of the subject is far less scholarly. We will not be discussing the role of game theory or the use of the “medical-matching model” in law clerk selection. Our purpose is simply to provide an insider’s perspective into the clerkship application process and, in doing so, defend the following theses: Unless you are the Editor-in-Chief of your school’s main law review or one of the top five or ten students in your class, you need to set yourself apart from the competition. Your road to success is through the face-to-face interview with the Judge. In making this point, we depart from the truism in the decision-making process that writing a good brief is more important than oral argument. In your written applications you may have sterling academic records, stunning extracurricular activities, and superb references, but whether you get the job offer depends on how you perform at the personal interview

Evaluation of Alternative Intersections and Interchanges: Volume II—Diverging Diamond Interchange Signal Timing

This report presents findings from field studies of operations at diverging diamond interchanges (DDIs) in Salt Lake City, Utah and Fort Wayne, Indiana. These discuss optimization of signal offsets both within the DDI, and with the DDI integrated as part of an arterial corridor. Optimization of Fort Wayne, Indiana corridor comprising the DDI and three neighboring intersections yielded an annualized user benefit of $564,000, when assessing origin-destination paths both along the arterial and for movements to and from the freeway. This is the first field study of DDI offset optimization with neighboring intersections. Additionally, a pilot study was carried out in Salt Lake City on a new phasing scheme that incorporated a “holdback” phase into the signal sequence that delayed vehicles exiting the ramp in order to better coordinate their arrival at the downstream intersection, increasing the percent on green from 53% to 92%. The report concludes with a discussion of practical issues pertaining to DDI signal timing and provides a series of guidelines to assist in the design of new signal timing plans for future DDI deployments

Depressive Symptoms and Alcohol-Related Problems Among College Students: A Moderated-Mediated Model of Mindfulness and Drinking to Cope

Objective: In college student samples, the association between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related problems has been found to be mediated by drinking-to-cope motives. Mindfulness-based interventions suggest that mindfulness may attenuate the conditioned response of using substances in response to negative emotional states, and trait mindfulness has been shown to be a protective factor associated with experiencing fewer alcohol-related problems. In the present study, we examined trait mindfulness as a moderator of the indirect associations of depressive symptoms on alcohol-related problems via drinking-to-cope motives. Method: Participants were undergraduate students at a large, southeastern university in the United States who drank at least once in the previous month (n = 448). Participants completed an online survey regarding their personal mental health, coping strategies, trait mindfulness, and alcohol use behaviors. The majority of participants were female (n = 302; 67.4%), identified as being either White non Hispanic (n = 213; 47.5%) or African American (n = 119; 26.6%), and reported a mean age of 22.74 (SD = 6.81) years. Further, 110 (25%) participants reported having a previous and/or current experience with mindfulness mediation. Results: As hypothesized, the indirect effects from depressive symptoms to alcohol-related problems via drinking-to-cope motives were weaker among individuals reporting higher levels of mindfulness than among individuals reporting lower and average levels of mindfulness. Conclusions: The present study suggests a possible mechanism through which mindfulness-based interventions may be efficacious among college students: decoupling the associations between depressive symptoms and drinking-to-cope motives

Soil respiratory quotient determined via barometric process separation combined with nitrogen-15 labeling

The barometric process separation (BaPS) and ¹⁵N dilution techniques were used to determine gross nitrification rates on the same soil cores from an old grassland soil. The BaPS-technique separates the O₂ consumption into that from nitrification and that from soil organic matter (SOM) respiration. The most sensitive parameter for the calculations via the BaPS technique is the respiratory quotient (RQ = ∆CO₂/∆O₂) for SOM turnover (RQSOM). Combining both methods (BaPS–¹⁵N ) allowed the determination of the RQSOM. The RQ value determined in such a way is adjusted for the influence of nitrification and denitrification, which are both characterized by totally different RQ values. The results for the grassland soil showed that 6 to 10% of O₂ was consumed by nitrification when incubated at 20°C and 0.49 g H₂O g⁻¹ soil. A set of BaPS measurements with the same soil at various temperature and moisture contents showed that up to 49% of the total O₂ consumption was due to nitrification. The calculated RQSOM values via the BaPS–¹⁵N technique presented here are more closely associated with the overall SOM turnover than the usual net RQ reported in the literature. Furthermore, the RQSOM value provides an overall indication of the decomposability and chemical characteristics of the respired organic material. Hence, it has the potential to serve as a single state index for SOM quality and therefore be a useful index for SOM turnover models based on substrate quality