Assessment of Acquisition, Retention, and Evolution of Randomly Acquired Characteristics with Wear

The recovery of known-source shoes for the purpose of comparison to crime scene impressions often occurs with a temporal lag. During this passage of time, the outsole can be altered due to continued wear. These changes may impact forensically relevant characteristics of use known as randomly acquired characteristics (RACs). Continued wear may cause the formation of new RACs, cause RACs to undergo some degree of geometric change, and/or lead to the loss of formerly existing RACs. Consequently, the correspondence between a test impression from a known mated shoe with continued wear and a questioned impression with less wear deposited at a scene may diminish. In order to systematically examine these changes, the acquisition, retention, and geometric change of RACs were investigated as a function of step-count. Eight participants were recruited to walk in a new pair of Nike Quest 3 shoes on a fixed route for 10 collections at 20K step-intervals up to a maximum of 200K total steps of use. Between each step-interval, high quality exemplars were created, digitized, and registered. The corresponding outsole was examined for the presence of RACs using oblique illumination and 4X magnification, and each feature’s geometry was traced using Adobe Photoshop Elements 10. In addition, one pair of shoes was remarked in replicate for each of the 10 step-intervals to inform uncertainty of detection and measurement, forming a quality control (QC) dataset. RACs were tracked from the time of their acquisition through a total of 200K steps. The average gain in RAC count increased at a rate of 1.6X to 2.0X to 2.4X for 40K, 60K, and 80K steps of additional wear, respectively. However, uncertainty demonstrated that acquisition equal to or less than two RACs is likely attributed to variability in analyst detection. Likewise, the average loss, when normalized by the number of RACs present, increased at a rate of 1.6X to 2.0X to 2.3X for 40K, 60K and 80K steps of additional wear, respectively. Unlike the uncertainty reported for RAC gain, the quality assurance methodology used in this study effectively limited (nearly) all missed detections. As a result, variability in RAC loss as a function of missed analyst detection cannot be quantified, but is believed to be negligible. For the purpose of detecting the spatial distribution of RAC acquisition and loss, 20 heatmaps were populated as a function of cumulative wear. Comparison of the spatial distributions of RACs for both acquisition and loss suggests possible clustering, with a slight increase in the number of RACs gained in the medial edge of the toe, and lost in the lateral toe and heel, for later step-intervals. With the aim of quantifying the geometric change of RACs through continued wear and cumulative use, probability density functions and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to compare the numerical similarity --- based on average Hausdorff distance (HA) --- between known mated (KM) RACs that differ with wear, versus all other known non-mated (KNM) RACs in the dataset. If uncertainty in the method and the ability of the analyst to repeatedly trace RACs known to be identical is ignored, then across all step-interval differences (up to 180K) and cumulative wear (up to 200K of total steps), there was a 0.86 probability that mated RACs which persisted through continued wear were more numerically similar to themselves than non-mates. Moreover, for 20K steps of additional wear for a lightly-worn shoe versus a well-worn shoe, this probability was relatively constant (0.95 - 0.90), failing to detect any differences over the life of the shoe (at least up until 200K steps of use). However, for increasing additional steps, the probability of a randomly selected RAC being deemed more similar to a worn version of itself as opposed to a non-mated RAC decreased by about 4% for every 20K steps of additional wear between 20K and 100K total steps. When considering uncertainty in the analyst\u27s ability to repeatedly mark RACs known to be identical, 95% of the QC mated RACs had a numerical similarity score less than 1.12 HA units. At 20K steps of additional wear, nearly 75% of the KMs-with-wear distribution overlapped with the KM-QC scores indicating either no substantial change based on wear, or an inability for this method to detect any difference due to wear. Another 10% of scores for KMs-with-wear were less than KNM scores, but 15% were actually greater (suggesting a numerical false exclusion). For all scores where a false exclusion between known mates is more numerically likely, the ratio of KMs-with-wear versus KNM scores was 19% for 20K additional steps. This value increased to 20%, 30% and 35% for 40K, 60K and 80K steps of additional wear, respectively. In order to assess the effect of continued wear and cumulative age on the degree of global (or impression-wide) self-similarity, vectors of RAC area per spatial bin were transformed using principal component analysis (PCA), whereafter accuracy in group membership was evaluated using cosine similarity (CS) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). When using CS as a classifier, source association accuracy decreased by approximately 6% for 20K - 100K steps of use (72%, 66%, 61%, 54%, 50%). This matches intuition in that a greater degree of continued wear will result in lower self-similarity. Lower classification accuracy was observed for earlier cumulative step-intervals, until at least six RACs were acquired to generate sufficient differentiation. These findings were corroborated with a hold-one-out validation (HOOV) using LDA as a classifier, such that self-association accuracy was below 75% until 160K steps were accrued. Additionally, little-to-no increase in classification accuracy was observed when a participant\u27s left/right shoe designation was ignored. In other words, RAC maps for a left or right shoe worn by a single participant were not more similar than other close non-mates in this dataset. For the wear-induced deviation in self-similarity using CS and LDA, at least 8% and 23% (respectively) could be attributed to the combined method and/or analyst\u27s variation in marking. Thus, greater global self-similarity than that reported may exist for moderately-worn shoes (perhaps as high as 80% for 20K steps of wear accumulated after 100K and measured using CS, and \u3e\u3e90% after 160K total steps when using LDA). In summary, this research quantified RAC (i.) acquisition, (ii.) loss, (iii.) spatial distribution, and (iv.) numerical geometric similarity --- as well as (v.) global impression-wide self-similarity --- for a specific make/model of shoe, tracked over 200K steps of total wear, as worn by an opportunistic set of participants, walking a single/specific terrain. Results indicate a relatively equal rate of acquisition and normalized loss with increasing wear, such that loss can dominate for shoes with a greater number of initial RACs while acquisition can dominate for lightly-worn shoes with few RACs. In addition, there is evidence that approximately 15% of KMs-with-wear will start to exhibit changes in RAC geometry with 20K additional steps of wear that numerically cause them appear more similar to KNMs. As the step-interval difference increases to a total of 80K, this rises to approximately 25%. Finally, global self-similarity after 20K steps is very poor for new/lightly-worn shoes (owning to the lack of features on which to form a valid association), but this metric is generally greater than 80% for moderately-to-well-worn shoes (100K for CS and 160K for LDA). Naturally, as the number of steps walked between the collection of two test-impressions increases, similarity decreases. If the outcomes observed in this study persist with other datasets that include other shoe makes/models, participants, and terrains, then the results frame the range of variation in RAC number and self-similarity with less-worn mates that a forensic footwear examiner might reasonably expect between test impressions that differ in total wear

Katherine Arens. Vienna’s Dreams of Europe: Culture and Identity Beyond the Nation-State. New York: Bloomsbury, 2015.

Review of Katherine Arens. Vienna’s Dreams of Europe: Culture and Identity Beyond the Nation-State. New York: Bloomsbury, 2015

Anna Semper (1826–1909) i kobieta naukowiec w nowożytnych Niemczech

This article uses the work of Anna Semper (1826–1909) to explore the possibilities for understanding women’s contributions to the development of science in Germany from the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. By examining the publications of her husband, the naturalist Carl Semper (1832–1893), as well as those of other scholars, traces of the ways that she produced scientific knowledge begin to emerge. Because the Sempers’ work took place in the context of the Philippines and Palau, two different Spanish colonies, and formed the basis of Carl’s professional career, this article also analyzes Anna’s role in the creation of an explicitly colonial science.Artykuł wykorzystuje prace Anny Semper (1826–1909) dla zbadania możliwości zrozumienia wkładu kobiet w rozwój nauki w Niemczech w II poł. XIX w. i początkach XX w. Dzięki zbadaniu publikacji jej męża, przyrodnika Carla Sempera (1832–1893), a także innych naukowców, zaczynają wyłaniać się ślady sposobów, w jaki tworzyła ona wiedzę naukową. Ponieważ praca Semperów dotyczyła Filipin i Palau, dwóch różnych hiszpańskich kolonii, i stanowiła podstawę kariery zawodowej Carla, artykuł analizuje także rolę Anny w tworzeniu jawnie kolonialnej nauki

The importance of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) in the nitrogen cycle of coastal ecosystems

Until recently, it was believed that biological assimilation and gaseous nitrogen (N) loss through denitrification were the two major fates of nitrate entering or produced within most coastal ecosystems. Denitrification is often viewed as an important ecosystem service that removes reactive N from the ecosystem. However, there is a competing nitrate reduction process, dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), that conserves N within the ecosystem. The recent application of nitrogen stable isotopes as tracers has generated growing evidence that DNRA is a major nitrogen pathway that cannot be ignored. Measurements comparing the importance of denitrification vs. DNRA in 55 coastal sites found that DNRA accounted for more than 30% of the nitrate reduction at 26 sites. DNRA was the dominant pathway at more than one-third of the sites. Understanding what controls the relative importance of denitrification and DNRA, and how the balance changes with increased nitrogen loading, is of critical importance for predicting eutrophication trajectories. Recent improvements in methods for assessing rates of DNRA have helped refine our understanding of the rates and controls of this process, but accurate measurements in vegetated sediment still remain a challenge

Applying new biotechnologies to the study of occupational cancer--a workshop summary.

As high-throughput technologies in genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics evolve, questions arise about their use in the assessment of occupational cancers. To address these questions, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the American Chemistry Council sponsored a workshop 8-9 May 2002 in Washington, DC. The workshop brought together 80 international specialists whose objective was to identify the means for best exploiting new technologies to enhance methods for laboratory investigation, epidemiologic evaluation, risk assessment, and prevention of occupational cancer. The workshop focused on identifying and interpreting markers for early biologic effect and inherited modifiers of risk

Repurposing the Ebola and Marburg Virus Inhibitors Tilorone, Quinacrine, and Pyronaridine: In Vitro Activity against SARS-CoV-2 and Potential Mechanisms

Severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a newly identified virus that has resulted in over 2.5 million deaths globally and over 116 million cases globally in March, 2021. Small-molecule inhibitors that reverse disease severity have proven difficult to discover. One of the key approaches that has been widely applied in an effort to speed up the translation of drugs is drug repurposing. A few drugs have shown in vitro activity against Ebola viruses and demonstrated activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vivo. Most notably, the RNA polymerase targeting remdesivir demonstrated activity in vitro and efficacy in the early stage of the disease in humans. Testing other small-molecule drugs that are active against Ebola viruses (EBOVs) would appear a reasonable strategy to evaluate their potential for SARS-CoV-2. We have previously repurposed pyronaridine, tilorone, and quinacrine (from malaria, influenza, and antiprotozoal uses, respectively) as inhibitors of Ebola and Marburg viruses in vitro in HeLa cells and mouse-adapted EBOV in mice in vivo. We have now tested these three drugs in various cell lines (VeroE6, Vero76, Caco-2, Calu-3, A549-ACE2, HUH-7, and monocytes) infected with SARS-CoV-2 as well as other viruses (including MHV and HCoV 229E). The compilation of these results indicated considerable variability in antiviral activity observed across cell lines. We found that tilorone and pyronaridine inhibited the virus replication in A549-ACE2 cells with IC50 values of 180 nM and IC50 198 nM, respectively. We used microscale thermophoresis to test the binding of these molecules to the spike protein, and tilorone and pyronaridine bind to the spike receptor binding domain protein with Kd values of 339 and 647 nM, respectively. Human Cmax for pyronaridine and quinacrine is greater than the IC50 observed in A549-ACE2 cells. We also provide novel insights into the mechanism of these compounds which is likely lysosomotropic

SNAPSHOT USA 2019 : a coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the United States. For our first annual survey, we compiled data across all 50 states during a 14-week period (17 August - 24 November of 2019). We sampled wildlife at 1509 camera trap sites from 110 camera trap arrays covering 12 different ecoregions across four development zones. This effort resulted in 166,036 unique detections of 83 species of mammals and 17 species of birds. All images were processed through the Smithsonian's eMammal camera trap data repository and included an expert review phase to ensure taxonomic accuracy of data, resulting in each picture being reviewed at least twice. The results represent a timely and standardized camera trap survey of the USA. All of the 2019 survey data are made available herein. We are currently repeating surveys in fall 2020, opening up the opportunity to other institutions and cooperators to expand coverage of all the urban-wild gradients and ecophysiographic regions of the country. Future data will be available as the database is updated at eMammal.si.edu/snapshot-usa, as well as future data paper submissions. These data will be useful for local and macroecological research including the examination of community assembly, effects of environmental and anthropogenic landscape variables, effects of fragmentation and extinction debt dynamics, as well as species-specific population dynamics and conservation action plans. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this paper when using the data for publication.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Memoirs in Miniature: CM/1 Forms and Fragmentary Understandings of the Holocaust

This article examines the Care and Maintenance (CM/1) form of Paula Bettauer for what it reveals about her memories of surviving the Holocaust and her husband’s murder in Auschwitz. The record includes a personal narrative, chronologies of her employment status and vital documents, as well as other details, all of which offer a view of navigating Vienna following the Nazi annexation and later deportation of the vast majority of the city’s Jewish population. This article reports on these crucial pieces of information and analyzes various blank spaces in comprehending the Holocaust through an individual’s postwar memories