Archeological Excavation and Reburial of Unmarked Historic Graves in the Pioneer Cemetary (41BO202), Brazoria County, Texas

Three unmarked graves within the predominantly African American Pioneer Cemetery in the City of Brazoria (Brazoria County), Texas, were exhumed and reburied within the cemetery. The graves were located within the right of way of State Highway 332, and were found during an earlier search phase done in conjunction with a planned expansion of the highway. The burial excavations and reburial were done in March and April 2003, by Prewitt and Associates, Inc., for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The graves contained the remains of three unknown individuals—a young woman (17–23 years old), an older woman (45–60 years old), and an infant (2–4 years old)—who died in the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries

Archeological Excavation and Reburial of Unmarked Historic Graves in the Pioneer Cemetery (41BO202), Brazoria County, Texas

This report signals the completion of a cultural resource consultation process that began several years ago. In 1998, a planning meeting was held between archeologists with the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Historical Commission to discuss the planned improvements to State Highway 332 in Brazoria County, Texas, This work required a cultural resources surveys of many segments of the highway, one of which is adjacent to the historic Pioneer Cemetery, a predominantly African American burial ground in the town of Brazoria. Archeological investigations were conducted adjacent to the cemetery but within the highway right of way in 1998 and 1999, and the results of this work were reported in 2002. The investigations identified several unmarked graves that appeared to be within the highway right of way on the east side of SH 332. A subsequent property survey showed that three well-defined graves, and a possible fourth grave, were within the right of way and two others were very close to the right of way line. Following the state and federal cultural resources laws and the state laws pertaining to cemeteries in the Health and Safety Code of Texas, the Texas Department of Transportation undertook a project to remove and relocate the graves within the highway right of way. Prewitt and Associates, Inc., of Austin, Texas, was contracted to do the work (Contract No. 573XXSA001, Work Authorization No. 57304SA001). The exhumation of the burials took place from March 31 to April 3, 2003, and the remains were reburied during a ceremony held on April 4, 2003. This report documents the excavation, removal, and reburial of three unmarked graves dating to the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries. This archeological study brings closure to this project. From a historical perspective, the remains of three unidentified people—a young woman, an older woman, and an infant—provide a glimpse at African American life in turn-of-the century Brazoria. From a human perspective, the remains from each grave—all human bones, remnants of the wooden caskets, and personal items buried with the person—were treated with the respect and dignity they deserve, and all three have been reburied in a new location safely inside the Pioneer Cemeter

Aquazol as a binder for retouching paints. An evaluation through analytical pyrolysis and thermal analysis

Aquazol poly (2-ethyl-oxazoline) is a tertiary aliphatic amide, with physical and chemical properties that are exploited in a variety of ways, from pharmaceutical applications to the conservation of cultural heritage. In this study, we evaluated the use of Aquazol as a new binder for retouching paint in the restoration of artworks. Aquazol 500 admixed with various formulations of organic red pigments was used to prepare paint replicas which were artificially aged and investigated by a multi-analytical approach based on analytical pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), and thermogravimetry (TG), complemented by FTIR and LIBS spectroscopy. This is the first study on the ageing phenomena of Aquazol 500 using analytical pyrolysis and thermogravimetric analysis. The influence of the pigments' components on the pyrolysis behavior of Aquazol was also investigated. The paint replicas did not show significant modifications during artificial ageing. This thus highlights the optimal properties of Aquazol 500 as a binder for retouching, in addition to its already established suitability as a filler or consolidant in the restoration of artifacts. Interestingly, when Aquazol 500 is used in formulations containing organic pigments, Aquazol-pigment interactions are observed, strongly depending on the pigment used

Laboratory evidence for the non-detection of excited nascent H2 in dark clouds

There has always been a great deal of interest in the formation of H2 as well as in the binding energy released upon its formation on the surface of dust grains. The present work aims at collecting experimental evidence for how the bond energy budget of H2 is distributed between the reaction site and the internal energy of the molecule. So far, the non-detection of excited nascent H2 in dense quiescent clouds could be a sign that either predictions of emission line intensities are not correct or the de-excitation of the newly formed molecules proceeds rapidly on the grain surface itself. In this letter we present experimental evidence that interstellar molecular hydrogen is formed and then rapidly de-excited on the surface of porous water ice mantles. In addition, although we detect ro-vibrationally excited nascent molecules desorbing from a bare non-porous (compact) water ice film, we demonstrate that the amount of excited nascent hydrogen molecules is significantly reduced no matter the morphology of the water ice substrate at 10 K (both on non-porous and on porous water ice) in a regime of high molecular coverage as is the case in dark molecular clouds.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, to be published in MNRA

Expression pattern of four storage xyloglucan mobilization-related genes during seedling development of the rain forest tree Hymenaea courbaril L.

During seedling establishment, cotyledons of the rain forest tree Hymenaea courbaril mobilize storage cell wall xyloglucan to sustain growth. The polysaccharide is degraded and its products are transported to growing sink tissues. Auxin from the shoot controls the level of xyloglucan hydrolytic enzymes. It is not yet known how important the expression of these genes is for the control of storage xyloglucan degradation. In this work, partial cDNAs of the genes xyloglucan transglycosylase hydrolase (HcXTH1) and β-galactosidase (HcBGAL1), both related to xyloglucan degradation, and two other genes related to sucrose metabolism [alkaline invertase (HcAlkIN1) and sucrose synthase (HcSUS1)], were isolated. The partial sequences were characterized by comparison with sequences available in the literature, and phylogenetic trees were assembled. Gene expression was evaluated at intervals of 6 h during 24 h in cotyledons, hypocotyl, roots, and leaves, using 45-d-old plantlets. HcXTH1 and HcBGAL1 were correlated to xyloglucan degradation and responded to auxin and light, being down-regulated when transport of auxin was prevented by N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA) and stimulated by constant light. Genes related to sucrose metabolism, HcAlkIN1 and HcSUS1, responded to inhibition of auxin transport in consonance with storage mobilization in the cotyledons. A model is proposed suggesting that auxin and light are involved in the control of the expression of genes related to storage xyloglucan mobilization in seedlings of H. courbaril. It is concluded that gene expression plays a role in the control of the intercommunication system of the source–sink relationship during seeding growth, favouring its establishment in the shaded environment of the rain forest understorey

Quantitative description of temperature induced self-aggregation thermograms determined by differential scanning calorimetry

A novel thermodynamic approach for the description of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments on self-aggregating systems is derived and presented. The method is based on a mass action model where temperature dependence of aggregation numbers is considered. The validity of the model was confirmed by describing the aggregation behavior of poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide) block copolymers, which are well-known to exhibit a strong temperature dependence. The quantitative description of the thermograms could be performed without any discrepancy between calorimetric and van 't Hoff enthalpies, and moreover, the aggregation numbers obtained from the best fit of the DSC experiments are in good agreement with those obtained by light scattering experiments corroborating the assumptions done in the derivation of the new model