Millican Bench (41TV163) A Multicomponent Site in Travis County, Texas

Between September of 1970 and February of 1971, the Texas Highway Department, now the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), carried out extensive hand and mechanical excavations at 41TV163, the Millican Bench site. The highway maintenance crew was ably directed by Frank Weir. Millican Bench represented the first archeological site excavated by the then Texas Highway Department (THD) under their archeological program. In 2001, TxDOT contracted with the Center for Archaeological Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio to provide an assessment of the documents and data and develop research topics that may be successfully pursued with the materials from the site. Based on the assessment it was determined that dependent on data types, four broad analytical units could be defined (Late Prehistoric, and Late, Middle and Early Archaic), and two diachronic and one synchronic research topic would be pursued: changes in subsistence strategies and lithic technological organization, and the evaluation of Feature 3, a possible structure noted at the site. The analysis of the faunal material from the site and comparison with other archeological collections indicates that hunter-gatherers may have pursued a broad-spectrum adaptation, even when bison were present in the region. The lithic assemblage, characterized by predominantly expedient and minimally retouched tool forms, supports this contention. The percentages of what we think are nonlocal raw materials increases through time. This increase hints at changes in the level or scope of mobility. Patterns in projectile point discard and replacement strategies suggest some premium on preventive tool replacement. Although the photographic documentation strongly supports the likelihood of Feature 3 representing a structure, we have little surviving direct data in support of this possibility. The artifactual data that we can investigate suggests, however, that the circular area may have at least represented some type of maintained space. All artifacts retained, in consultation with the Texas Historical Commission and TxDOT, and all site documentation are permanently curated at the Center for Archaeological Research. The remains of the single skeleton recovered from the site are also permanently curated at the Center

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

Control Of Perceptual Attention In Robot Driving

Computer vision research aimed at performing general scene understanding has proven to be conceptually difficult and computationally complex. Active vision is a promising approach to solving this problem. Active vision systems use optimized sensor settings, reduced fields of view, and relatively simple algorithms to efficiently extract specific information from a scene. This approach is only appropriate in the context of a task that motivates the selection of the information to extract. While there has been a fair amount of research that describes the extraction processes, there has been little work that investigates how active vision could be used for a realistic task in a dynamic domain. We are studying such a task: driving an autonomous vehicle in traffic. In this paper we present a method for controlling visual attention as part of the reasoning process for driving, and analyze the efficiency gained in doing so. We first describe a model of driving and the driving environment, and estimate the complexity of performing the required sensing with a general driving-scene understanding system. We then introduce three programs that use increasingly sophisticated perceptual control techniques to select perceptual actions. The first program, called Ulysses-1, uses perceptual routines, which use known reference objects to guide the search for new objects. The second program, Ulysses-2, creates an inference tree to infer the effect of uncertain input data on action choices, and searches this tree to decide which data to sense. Finally, Ulysses-3 uses domain knowledge to reason about how dynamic objects will move or change over time; objects that do not move enough to affect the robot\u27s decisions are not selected as perceptual targets. For each technique we have run experiments in simulation to measure the cost savings realized by using selective perception. We estimate that the techniques included in Ulysses-3 reduce the computational cost of perception by 9 to 12 orders of magnitude when compared to a general perception system. © 1995

Control Of Perceptual Attention In Robot Driving

Computer vision research aimed at performing general scene understanding has proven to be conceptually difficult and computationally complex. Active vision is a promising approach to solving this problem. Active vision systems use optimized sensor settings, reduced fields of view, and relatively simple algorithms to efficiently extract specific information from a scene. This approach is only appropriate in the context of a task that motivates the selection of the information to extract. While there has been a fair amount of research that describes the extraction processes, there has been little work that investigates how active vision could be used for a realistic task in a dynamic domain. We are studying such a task: driving an autonomous vehicle in traffic. In this paper we present a method for controlling visual attention as part of the reasoning process for driving, and analyze the efficiency gained in doing so. We first describe a model of driving and the driving environment, and estimate the complexity of performing the required sensing with a general driving-scene understanding system. We then introduce three programs that use increasingly sophisticated perceptual control techniques to select perceptual actions. The first program, called Ulysses-1, uses perceptual routines, which use known reference objects to guide the search for new objects. The second program, Ulysses-2, creates an inference tree to infer the effect of uncertain input data on action choices, and searches this tree to decide which data to sense. Finally, Ulysses-3 uses domain knowledge to reason about how dynamic objects will move or change over time; objects that do not move enough to affect the robot\u27s decisions are not selected as perceptual targets. For each technique we have run experiments in simulation to measure the cost savings realized by using selective perception. We estimate that the techniques included in Ulysses-3 reduce the computational cost of perception by 9 to 12 orders of magnitude when compared to a general perception system. © 1995

A harmonized segmentation protocol for hippocampal and parahippocampal subregions: Why do we need one and what are the key goals?

The advent of high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has enabled in vivo research in a variety of populations and diseases on the structure and function of hippocampal subfields and subdivisions of the parahippocampal gyrus. Because of the many extant and highly discrepant segmentation protocols, comparing results across studies is difficult. To overcome this barrier, the Hippocampal Subfields Group was formed as an international collaboration with the aim of developing a harmonized protocol for manual segmentation of hippocampal and parahippocampal subregions on high-resolution MRI. In this commentary we discuss the goals for this protocol and the associated key challenges involved in its development. These include differences among existing anatomical reference materials, striking the right balance between reliability of measurements and anatomical validity, and the development of a versatile protocol that can be adopted for the study of populations varying in age and health. The commentary outlines these key challenges, as well as the proposed solution of each, with concrete examples from our working plan. Finally, with two examples, we illustrate how the harmonized protocol, once completed, is expected to impact the field by producing measurements that are quantitatively comparable across labs and by facilitating the synthesis of findings across different studies. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc