Taphonomy at two contiguous coastal rockshelters in Panama: Preliminary observations focusing on fishing and curing fish

The scarcity of animal products negatively influences nutrition in tropical inland areas, which lack large rivers. Consuming cured marine fish mitigates this deficiency. In Panama, trading cured fish from coastal to inland sites is documented ethnohistorically and can be inferred from the current archaeozoological record. Very large numbers of marine fish remains have been recovered at pre-Columbian sites located on and around Parita Bay, a mangrove-fringed estuary on the central Pacific coast. At Sitio Sierra, a farming village 12 km inland from the active marine shore, more than 70% of fish remains deposited between ca. 1800 and 1500 uncalibrated radiocarbon years BP proved to be of marine origin. Two small rock-shelters located downriver from Sitio Sierra and now 2.6 km from the marine shore (Vampiros-1 and Vampiros-2) show evidence for having been used intensively for fishing and preparing fish between ca. 2200 and 1900 BP. A prior model based on air photograph interpretation and sedimentological analyses of marine and terrigenous sediments suggest that these shelters would have been on or very near the active marine shore at this time. A much earlier occupation at Vampiros-1 dating to ca. 11,500–7700 BP corresponds to pre-agricultural (Paleoindian) and early agricultural (Early Preceramic) people who camped occasionally in this shelter when the transgressing ocean was in the process of flooding Parita Bay. No shell or bone was recovered in this earlier cultural component. In the more recent (2200–1900 BP), component abundant remains of marine mollusks and crustaceans and vertebrate bones (mostly fish) are in excellent condition. A synopsis of the geological and cultural history of the Vampiros shelters is followed by preliminary observations on the relationship between pre-Columbian human activities and these sites’ formation processes, soil chemistry, bone integrity and animal species. Evidence is accruing for human impacts on fish skeletons resulting from the in situ preparation of fish (i.e., gutting, cutting and smoking) providing the opportunity to compare our archaeofaunal data with the results of Irit Zohar's ethno-archeological research, which identified how preparing fish for salting and sun-drying at present-day Panamanian fishing villages around Parita Bay affects the fish skeleton physically and proportionally. There is a strong possibility that the Vampiros shelters were used to provision inland sites like Sitio Sierra with inshore marine fish although we cannot yet ascertain the means by which coastal foodstuffs may have arrived at the latter site.     

A methodology for spatially representing the likelihood of occurrence of natural contaminants in groundwater

This paper presents a novel method of spatially representing the likelihood of occurrence of a contaminant in groundwater at the scale of a municipality or watershed. The specific contaminant of concern in the case study area is arsenic, which is variably present in groundwater at concentrations exceeding the 10 µg/l drinking water guideline. The method used to produce the likelihood of occurrence map incorporates confidence of geochemical interpretation based on availability of information and data on each aquifer. While demonstrated using arsenic as the contaminant of interest, the approach is readily adapted to other groundwater constituents. The final map is intended to be of use to water managers as it provides a spatial representation of aquifers of concern and identifies areas where further sampling or monitoring may be needed.     

Impact of interactive vegetation phenology on the Canadian RCM simulated climate over North America

Climate Dynamics - Biosphere–atmosphere interactions play a very important role in modulating regional climate. To capture these bi-directional interactions, a dynamic vegetation model, the...     

Photometric and Hα Observations of the Cataclysmic Star UX UMa

UBVRI photometry and spectroscopic observations around the H_α line of the cataclysmic star UX UMa are presented. The analysis of the 9-year photometry shows that the out-of-eclipse brightness of the system and the depth of the eclipse changes in different time scales while the width of the eclipse remains constant. The observed features of the light curves as well as the features of the two-peaked H_α profiles were attributed to an inhomogeneity of the accretion disk. “Spiral arm” model for a fitting of the light curves of UX UMa is proposed. It reproduces well the observational data. The obtained azimuthal extent of the spiral arms is of ∼90° and their light contribution is about 17–30of the total V flux of the disk. The obtained two dense structures at the outer disk covering partially the inner hot disk and the white dwarf at orbital phases ∼0.7 and ∼0.2 is in agreement with the predictions of the theoretical computations.     

Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity using Optical Devices I (ASTROD I)—a class-M fundamental physics mission proposal for cosmic vision 2015–2025: 2010 Update

ASTROD I is a planned interplanetary space mission with multiple goals. The primary aims are: to test General Relativity with an improvement in sensitivity of over 3 orders of magnitude, improving our understanding of gravity and aiding the development of a new quantum gravity theory; to measure key solar system parameters with increased accuracy, advancing solar physics and our knowledge of the solar system; and to measure the time rate of change of the gravitational constant with an order of magnitude improvement and the anomalous Pioneer acceleration, thereby probing dark matter and dark energy gravitationally. It is envisaged as the first in a series of ASTROD missions. ASTROD I will consist of one spacecraft carrying a telescope, four lasers, two event timers and a clock. Two-way, two-wavelength laser pulse ranging will be used between the spacecraft in a solar orbit and deep space laser stations on Earth, to achieve the ASTROD I goals.For this mission, accurate pulse timing with an ultra-stable clock, and a drag-free spacecraft with reliable inertial sensor are required. T2L2 has demonstrated the required accurate pulse timing; rubidium clock on board Galileo has mostly demonstrated the required clock stability; the accelerometer on board GOCE has paved the way for achieving the reliable inertial sensor; the demonstration of LISA Pathfinder will provide an excellent platform for the implementation of the ASTROD I drag-free spacecraft. These European activities comprise the pillars for building up the mission and make the technologies needed ready. A second mission, ASTROD or ASTROD-GW (depending on the results of ASTROD I), is envisaged as a three-spacecraft mission which, in the case of ASTROD, would test General Relativity to one part per billion, enable detection of solar g-modes, measure the solar Lense-Thirring effect to 10 parts per million, and probe gravitational waves at frequencies below the LISA bandwidth, or in the case of ASTROD-GW, would be dedicated to probe gravitational waves at frequencies below the LISA bandwidth to 100?nHz and to detect solar g-mode oscillations. In the third phase (Super-ASTROD), larger orbits could be implemented to map the outer solar system and to probe primordial gravitational-waves at frequencies below the ASTROD bandwidth. This paper on ASTROD I is based on our 2010 proposal submitted for the ESA call for class-M mission proposals, and is a sequel and an update to our previous paper (Appouchaux et al., Exp Astron 23:491?C527, 2009; designated as Paper I) which was based on our last proposal submitted for the 2007 ESA call. In this paper, we present our orbit selection with one Venus swing-by together with orbit simulation. In Paper I, our orbit choice is with two Venus swing-bys. The present choice takes shorter time (about 250?days) to reach the opposite side of the Sun. We also present a preliminary design of the optical bench, and elaborate on the solar physics goals with the radiation monitor payload. We discuss telescope size, trade-offs of drag-free sensitivities, thermal issues and present an outlook.     

A hypoplastic macroelement model for shallow foundations under monotonic and cyclic loads

In this work, a macroelement for shallow foundations on sands has been developed based on the theory of hypoplasticity. The incrementally nonlinear constitutive equations of the macromodel are defined in terms of generalized forces and displacements and are constructed based on the general approach proposed by Niemunis (Extended Hypoplastic Models for Soils. Habilitation Thesis, Bochum University, 2002). A suitable vectorial internal variable—mimicking the concept of intergranular strain introduced by Niemunis and Herle (Mech Cohes Frict Mater 2:279–299, 1997) for continuum hypoplasticity—is employed to provide the model sufficient memory of past displacement history to be able to reproduce the observed behavior under cyclic loading paths. As compared to similar macroelements formulated within the framework of the theory of elastoplasticity, the proposed approach has the advantage of a much simpler mathematical structure, which allows a straightforward implementation in existing structural analysis FE codes. The model performance has then been evaluated by comparing the model predictions with available experimental results from a series of small-scale model tests reported by Nova and Montrasio (Géotechnique 41:243–256, 1991). Overall, the model captures reasonably well the observed response under nonproportional, complex loading paths. A series of simulations reproducing the tests performed by di Prisco et al. (Shallow footing under cyclic loading: experimental behaviour and constitutive modelling. Patron, Bologna, 2003) has also demonstrated the potential of the proposed model to simulate the observed behavior of footings under cyclic loading paths, at least from a qualitative point of view.     

A probabilistic model for rainfall—induced shallow landslide prediction at the regional scale

This paper presents a new probabilistic physically-based computational model (called PG_TRIGRS) for the probabilistic analysis of rainfall-induced landslide hazard at a regional scale. The model is based on the deterministic approach implemented in the original TRIGRS code, developed by Baum et al. (USGS Open File Report 02–424, 2002) and Baum et al. (USGS Open File Report 08–1159, 2008). Its key innovative features are: (a) the application of Ordinary Kriging for the estimation of the spatial distributions of the first two statistical moments of the probability density functions of the relevant soil properties over the entire area, based on limited available information gathered from available information from limited site investigation campaigns, and (b) the use of Rosenblueth’s Point Estimate method as a more efficient alternative to the classical Monte Carlo method for the reliability analysis performed at the single-cell level to obtain the probability of failure associated to a given rainfall event. The application of the PG_TRIGRS code to a selected study area located in the Umbria Region for different idealized but realistic rainfall scenarios has demonstrated the computational efficiency and the accuracy of the proposed methodology, assessed by comparing predicted landslide densities with available field observations reported by the IFFI project. In particular, while the model might fail to identify all individual landslide events, its predictions are remarkably good in identifying the areas of higher landslide density.