Strike Three: Umpires' Demand for Discrimination

We explore umpires' racial/ethnic preferences in the evaluation of Major League Baseball pitchers. Controlling for umpire, pitcher, batter and catcher fixed effects and many other factors, strikes are more likely to be called if the umpire and pitcher match race/ethnicity. This effect only exists where there is little scrutiny of umpires' behavior -- in ballparks without computerized systems monitoring umpires' calls, at poorly attended games, and when the called pitch cannot determine the outcome of the at-bat. If a pitcher shares the home-plate umpire's race/ethnicity, he gives up fewer runs per game and improves his team's chance of winning. The results suggest that standard measures of salary discrimination that adjust for measured productivity may generally be flawed. We derive the magnitude of the bias generally and apply it to several examples.

Preliminary report of a large theropod dinosaur trackway in Clarens Formation sandstone (Early Jurassic) in the Paul Roux district, northeastern Free State, South Africa

An isolated fallen block of Clarens Formation sandstone near the small northeastern Free State town of Paul Roux preserves part of the trackway of a bipedal dinosaur. Although well known as a local curiosity, this trackway has not previously been formally reported or described. It consists of five successive paces of what is interpreted as a medium-sized to large theropod dinosaur, and represents the largest known theropod trackway in the ‘Stormberg’ sequence in South Africa. The tracks are assigned to the ichnotaxon Grallator sp., and show similarities to North American tracks of comparable age originally described as Dilophosauripus. Until now no body fossils of a likely candidate trackmaker were known, but elsewhere in this volume a possible candidate is described by the second author

Strike Three: Umpires' Demand for Discrimination

We explore how umpires' racial/ethnic preferences are expressed in their evaluation of Major League Baseball pitchers. Controlling for umpire, pitcher, batter and catcher fixed effects and many other factors, strikes are more likely to be called if the umpire and pitcher match race/ethnicity. This effect only exists where there is little scrutiny of umpires' behavior – in ballparks without computerized systems monitoring umpires' calls, at poorly attended games, and when the called pitch cannot determine the outcome of the at-bat. If a pitcher shares the home-plate umpire's race/ethnicity, he gives up fewer hits, strikes out more batters, and improves his team's chance of winning. The general implication is that standard measures of salary discrimination that adjust for measured productivity may be flawed. We derive the magnitude of the bias generally and apply it to several examples.strategic interactions, worker evaluation, wage equations, economics of sports

Extending the multi-level method for the simulation of stochastic biological systems

The multi-level method for discrete state systems, first introduced by Anderson and Higham [Multiscale Model. Simul. 10:146--179, 2012], is a highly efficient simulation technique that can be used to elucidate statistical characteristics of biochemical reaction networks. A single point estimator is produced in a cost-effective manner by combining a number of estimators of differing accuracy in a telescoping sum, and, as such, the method has the potential to revolutionise the field of stochastic simulation. The first term in the sum is calculated using an approximate simulation algorithm, and can be calculated quickly but is of significant bias. Subsequent terms successively correct this bias by combining estimators from approximate stochastic simulations algorithms of increasing accuracy, until a desired level of accuracy is reached. In this paper we present several refinements of the multi-level method which render it easier to understand and implement, and also more efficient. Given the substantial and complex nature of the multi-level method, the first part of this work (Sections 2 - 5) is written as a tutorial, with the aim of providing a practical guide to its use. The second part (Sections 6 - 8) takes on a form akin to a research article, thereby providing the means for a deft implementation of the technique, and concludes with a discussion of a number of open problems.Comment: 38 page

Taxonomic status of Myotis occultus

The taxonomic status of the Arizona myotis (Myotis occultus) is uncertain. Although the taxon was described as a distinct species and currently is regarded as such by some authors, others have noted what they interpreted as intergradation with the little brown bat (M. lucifugus carissima) near the Colorado-New Mexico state line. In this study, we used protein electrophoresis to compare bats of these nominal taxa. We examined 20 loci from 142 specimens referable to M. occultus and M. lucifugus from New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. Nine of the 20 loci were polymorphic. Results show that there were high similarities among samples, no fixed alleles, and minor divergence from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Our results suggest that the two nominal taxa represent only one species and that M. occultus should be regarded as a subspecies of M. lucifugus

Columbia River Basin Water Law Institutions and Policies Survey: Report to the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission

Report to the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commissio

Wintering Area DDE Source to Migratory White-Faced Ibis Revealed by Satellite Telemetry and Prey Sampling

Locations of contaminant exposure for nesting migratory species are difficult to fully understand because of possible additional sources encountered during migration or on the wintering grounds. A portion of the migratory white-faced ibis (Plegadis chihi) nesting at Carson Lake, Nevada continues to be exposed to dichloro-diphenyl-dichloroethylene (DDE) with no change, which is unusual, observed in egg concentrations between 1985 and 2000. About 45 to 63% of the earliest nesting segment shows reduced reproductive success correlated with elevated egg concentrations of \u3e 4 µg/g wet weight (ww). Local prey (primarily earthworms) near nests contained little DDE so we tracked the migration and wintering movements of 20 adult males during 2000-2004 to determine the possible source. At various wintering sites, we found a correlation (r2 = 0.518, P = 0.0125, N = 11) between DDE in earthworm composites and DDE in blood plasma of white-faced ibis wintering there, although the plasma was collected on their breeding grounds soon after arrival. The main source of DDE was wintering areas in the Mexicali Valley of Baja California Norte, Mexico, and probably the adjacent Imperial Valley, California, USA. This unusual continuing DDE problem for white-face ibis is associated with: the long-term persistence in soil of DDE; the earthworms’ ability to bioconcentrate DDE from soil; the proclivity of white-faced ibis to feed on earthworms in agricultural fields; the species extreme sensitivity to DDE in their eggs; and perhaps its life history strategy of being a “capital breeder”. We suggest surveying and sampling white-faced ibis eggs at nesting colonies, especially at Carson Lake, to monitor the continuing influence of DDE

Fate and Transport of Steroid Hormones and Veterinary Antibiotics Derived from Cattle Farms

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have been identified as one of the most important sources for the release of animal hormones and veterinary antibiotics into the aquatic environment. Funded by a USDA research grant, Dr. Wei Zheng set out to identify and quantify the environmental fate and transport of several commonly-occurring steroid hormones, veterinary antibiotics, and their metabolites. Findings were published in the following papers: Xiaolin Li, Wei Zheng, Michael L. Machesky, Scott R. Yates, and Michael Katterhenry (2011). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2011 59 (18), 10176-10181 DOI: 10.1021/jf202325c Wei Zheng, Xiaolin Li, Scott R. Yates, and Scott A. Bradford (2012). Environmental Science & Technology 46 (10), 5471-5478. DOI: 10.1021/es301551h Xiaolin Li, Wei Zheng, Walton R. Kelly (2013). Science of the Total Environment 445-446, 22-28. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.12.035 Wei Zheng, Yonghong Zou, Xiaolin Li, Michael L. Machesky (2013). Journal of Hazardous Materials 258-259, 109-115. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2013.04.038 Yonghong Zou and Wei Zheng Environmental Science & Technology 2013 47 (10), 5185-5192 DOI: 10.1021/es400624w.U.S. Department of AgricultureOpe