Cultural Resource Assessment SEP Water Line Route University Lands Blocks 9 and 58 Reagan County, Texas

In March of 2017, Turpin and Sons Inc. (TAS) archeologists assessed the cultural resource potential of 9 miles of proposed waterline right-of-way on University Lands in southwest Reagan County, Texas. The right-of-way is 100 ft wide for a total area of effect (APE) of 109.7 acres. The project was sponsored by Sequitur Energy Resources Inc. (Sequitur) and carried out under the authority of Texas Antiquities Permit 7958 issued to Jeff Turpin acting as Principal Investigator. The proposed route extends through University Lands Block 58, Section 24 and Block 9 Sections 3, 4, 12, 14, 21, 22, and 28, crossing Garrison Draw and County Road 113 (Best Lane) north of the abandoned town of Best. The area is highly disturbed from past clearing, leaving little of the original landscape in place. No new evidence of historic or prehistoric occupation or use was observed and no new archeological sites were added to the inventory. The ROW crosses previously recorded site 41RG244, a prehistoric scatter of firecracked rock (FCR), located primarily east of the route. The site area was expanded to 240 NW/SE by 150 NE/SW by the scattered lithic debris and FCR in the new survey corridor. The site is located in an area described by the USDA as oil waste land. Scouring of the surface has widely dispersed artifacts and FCR. The site was originally assessed as failing to meet National Register of Historic Places significance criteria and that judgement is reiterated here. Therefore, 41RG244 poses no impediment to the planned construction. No other cultural material was observed in the rest of the project area so installation of this waterline will not affect significant cultural resources

Cultural Resource Survey Del Valle ISD Ivy Berdoll 53 Acre Tract Travis County, Texas

During late September 2017, Turpin and Sons Inc. (TAS) conducted a cultural resource survey of the Ivy Berdoll 53-acre tract in southeast Travis County, Texas for Kleinfelder, acting as agents for Del Valle ISD. The survey tract is located north of Del Valle High School, south of State Highway 71 and east of Ross Road. The work was conducted by TAS staff Billy Turner and Terry Burgess, under the authority of Texas Antiquities Permit 8168 with Dr. Jeff Turpin acting as Principal Investigator. Modern land use is hilly pastureland that has been actively farmed since the 1930’s. Survey was conducted in parallel transects covering the entire property. Sixty-eight shovel tests were dug across the property with no evidence of prehistoric or significant historic occupation or use found. Two standing structures are located on the property. The older of the two was constructed in 1956, the younger in 1968. The former was recorded as archeological site 41TV2544. While the house is historic, it has no characteristics that quality it for designation as a State Antiquities Landmark or listing on the National Register of Historic Places

Negative Findings Cultural Resource Assessment Canyon Midstream Orange Pipeline Route University Lands Blocks 1 and 6 Reagan County, Texas

In June of 2017, Turpin and Sons Inc. (TAS) archeologists assessed the cultural resource potential of a proposed pipeline right-of-way (ROW) in southern Reagan County, Texas for Canyon Midstream Partners, LLC (Canyon). The Canyon Midstream Orange pipeline project covers a 2-mile (3,220 m) long by 100-ft-wide ROW with an area of potential effect (APE) of 24.25 acres. The survey was located southwest of Big Lake, south of the abandoned community of Texon. The work was carried out under the authority of Texas Antiquities Permit 8080 with Jeff Turpin acting as Principal Investigator. The Orange pipeline survey extended through University Lands Block 1, Section 4, and Block 6, Sections 2, and 3, crossing the midslope and upper valley of a rocky plateau. Modern land use is rangeland that has been disturbed by erosion and past clearing activity. The survey found a solitary dart point and scattered fire-cracked- rock (FCR) south of the current ROW. The FCR has been scattered by past clearing which dispersed the artifacts across a 400-m E/W by 50-m N/S area. The cultural material is south of the current ROW, dispersed between it and a caliche oilfield road. The lack of intact features and the considerable dam age inflicted by modern land use has left little of the site intact. The scattered artifacts were deemed an Isolated Find (IF) and do not warrant protection. The planned construction activity should be allowed to proceed

Negative Findings Report Cultural Resource Survey Comanche Trail Pipeline, LLC. San Elizario Crossing FERC Regulated Area El Paso County, Texas

During early May of 2015, TAS Inc. conducted a pedestrian survey and shovel testing of the Comanche Trail Pipeline, LLC (Comanche Trail) San Elizario Crossing in southeast El Paso County, Texas. The project will connect a natural gas pipeline in Texas with a natural gas pipeline in Mexico. Because of the international nature of the project, the survey fell under jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The survey area was located south and west of Chicken Ranch Road, 1.8 miles south of San Elizario and was confined to FERC regulated areas northeast of the Rio Grande. The project encompasses a staked right-of-way (ROW), as well as a Horizontal Directional Drill (HDD) location and temporary work space to be used to pull the pipe under the Rio Grande. HDD construction will occupy an area approximately 200 by 220 ft, with an additional 2,000-ft-long by 115-ft-wide temporary work space for an area of effect (APE) of 4.2 acres. An additional 1,000 by 100 ft section of proposed centerline between the HDD location and the Rio Grande brings the total area surveyed to 5.5 acres. No evidence of prehistoric or significant historic occupation or use was found by survey and shovel testing within the APE or along the staked ROW. The Texas Historical Commission subsequently requested backhoe trenching to confirm the absence of buried cultural deposits. In July, two 15-m-long trenches were dug to depths of 2 m each. Both were culturally sterile indicating that pipeline installation should not affect significant archeological or historical remains. A full description of the methods and results of trenching are reported in an addendum to the survey report

Intensive Survey Of The Proposed Aragorn Solar Farm On University Lands, Culbertson County, Texas

IP Aragorn LLC plans to develop a solar farm on a 1,765-acre tract on University Lands (UL) in Culberson County, Texas. In March and April 2018, Turpin and Sons Inc. (TAS) assessed the potential for significant cultural resources under the authority of Texas Antiquities Permit 8374 issued to UL, Aragorn and TAS with Jeff Turpin acting as Principal Investigator. The project area is a barren extent of interfluvial gypsum plain between the Rustler Hills on the east and the Delaware Mountains on the west. One previously recorded site, 41CU558, barely extends to the access road on the northeastern end of the tract, with the majority of the cultural remains outside the boundary. Although the Texas Historical Commission had at one time declared the site eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), neither the first recording nor two subsequent revisits found anything of significance on the site. One newly recorded site, 41CU862, is a scatter of fire-cracked rock and lithic debris that is equally insignificant with no potential for buried or intact deposits. Neither 41CU862 nor the portion of 41CU558 in the Aragorn tract meet eligibility criteria for listing on the NRHP or merit designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL). No further work nor avoidance measures are recommended in the Aragorn tract

Social disorganization and history of child sexual abuse against girls in sub-Saharan Africa : a multilevel analysis

Background: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a considerable public health problem. Less focus has been paid to the role of community level factors associated with CSA. The aim of this study was to examine the association between neighbourhood-level measures of social disorganization and CSA. Methods: We applied multiple multilevel logistic regression analysis on Demographic and Health Survey data for 6,351 adolescents from six countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2006 and 2008. Results: The percentage of adolescents that had experienced CSA ranged from 1.04% to 5.84%. There was a significant variation in the odds of reporting CSA across the communities, suggesting 18% of the variation in CSA could be attributed to community level factors. Respondents currently employed were more likely to have reported CSA than those who were unemployed (odds ratio [OR] = 2.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.48 to 2.83). Respondents from communities with a high family disruption rate were 57% more likely to have reported CSA (OR=1.57, 95% CI 1.14 to 2.16). Conclusion: We found that exposure to CSA was associated with high community level of family disruption, thus suggesting that neighbourhoods may indeed have significant important effects on exposure to CSA. Further studies are needed to explore pathways that connect the individual and neighbourhood levels, that is, means through which deleterious neighbourhood effects are transmitted to individuals

Localization of ultrasound in a three-dimensional elastic network

After exactly half a century of Anderson localization, the subject is more alive than ever. Direct observation of Anderson localization of electrons was always hampered by interactions and finite temperatures. Yet, many theoretical breakthroughs were made, highlighted by finite-size scaling, the self-consistent theory and the numerical solution of the Anderson tight-binding model. Theoretical understanding is based on simplified models or approximations and comparison with experiment is crucial. Despite a wealth of new experimental data, with microwaves, light, ultrasound and cold atoms, many questions remain, especially for three dimensions. Here we report the first observation of sound localization in a random three-dimensional elastic network. We study the time-dependent transmission below the mobility edge, and report ``transverse localization'' in three dimensions, which has never been observed previously with any wave. The data are well described by the self-consistent theory of localization. The transmission reveals non-Gaussian statistics, consistent with theoretical predictions.Comment: Final published version, 5 pages, 4 figure

R : Phage biocontrol to combat Pseudomonas syringae pathogens causing disease in cherry

Bacterial canker is a major disease of Prunus species, such as cherry (Prunus avium). It is caused by Pseudomonas syringae pathovars, including P. syringae pv. syringae (Pss) and P. syringae pv. morsprunorum race 1 (Psm1) and race 2 (Psm2). Concerns over the environmental impact of, and the development of bacterial resistance to, traditional copper controls calls for new approaches to disease management. Bacteriophage-based biocontrol could provide a sustainable and natural alternative approach to combat bacterial pathogens. Therefore, seventy phages were isolated from soil, leaf and bark of cherry trees in six locations in the south east of England. Subsequently, their host range was assessed against strains of Pss, Psm1 and Psm2. While these phages lysed different Pss, Psm and some other P. syringae pathovar isolates, they did not infect beneficial bacteria such as Pseudomonas fluorescens. A subset of thirteen phages were further characterized by genome sequencing, revealing five distinct clades in which the phages could be clustered. No known toxins or lysogeny-associated genes could be identified. Using bioassays, selected phages could effectively reduce disease progression in vivo, both individually and in cocktails, reinforcing their potential as biocontrol agents in agriculture

Differences in life-history traits in two clonal strains of the self-fertilizing fish, Rivulus marmoratus

We compared life-history traits such as fecundity, sex ratio, reproductive cycle, age at sexual maturity, embryonic period, egg size, early growth and morphology in two clonal strains (PAN-RS and DAN) of the mangrove killifish, Rivulus marmoratus, under constant rearing conditions. We found a positive relationship between growth and reproductive effort. Fecundity was significantly higher in the PAN-RS strain than in the DAN strain. The sex ratio was significantly different, with DAN producing more primary males than PAN-RS. Spawning and ovulation cycle did not clearly differ between the strains. PAN-RS showed a significantly higher growth rate than DAN from 0 to 100 days after hatching, however, age at sexual maturity, embryonic period, egg size, and morphometric and meristic characteristics (vertebral and fin-ray counts) did not differ between the two strains. The high fecundity of PAN-RS may provide an increased chance of offspring survival, while the attainment of sexual maturity at a smaller size in DAN may allow them to invest earlier in reproduction to increase breeding success. Variations in the life-history traits of PAN-RS and DAN may be adaptive strategies for life in their natural habitat, which consists of mangrove estuaries with a highly variable environment

TOI-1338 : TESS' first transiting circumbinary planet

Funding: Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular, the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. W.F.W. and J.A.O.thank John Hood Jr. for his generous support of exoplanet research at SDSU. Support was also provided and acknowledged through NASA Habitable Worlds grant 80NSSC17K0741 and NASA XRP grant 80NSSC18K0519. This work is partly supported by NASA Habitable Worlds grant 80NSSC17K0741. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under grant No.(DGE-1746045). A.H.M.J.T. has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 803193/BEBOP) and from a Leverhulme Trust Research Project grant No. RPG-2018-418. A.C. acknowledges support by CFisUC strategic project (UID/FIS/04564/2019).We report the detection of the first circumbinary planet (CBP) found by Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The target, a known eclipsing binary, was observed in sectors 1 through 12 at 30 minute cadence and in sectors 4 through 12 at 2 minute cadence. It consists of two stars with masses of 1.1 M⊙ and 0.3 M⊙ on a slightly eccentric (0.16), 14.6 day orbit, producing prominent primary eclipses and shallow secondary eclipses. The planet has a radius of ∼6.9 R⊕ and was observed to make three transits across the primary star of roughly equal depths (∼0.2%) but different durations—a common signature of transiting CBPs. Its orbit is nearly circular (e ≍ 0.09) with an orbital period of 95.2 days. The orbital planes of the binary and the planet are aligned to within ∼1°. To obtain a complete solution for the system, we combined the TESS photometry with existing ground-based radial-velocity observations in a numerical photometric-dynamical model. The system demonstrates the discovery potential of TESS for CBPs and provides further understanding of the formation and evolution of planets orbiting close binary stars.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe