Bovid mortality profiles in paleoecological context falsify hypotheses of endurance running–hunting and passive scavenging by early Pleistocene hominins

The world’s first archaeological traces from 2.6 million years ago (Ma) at Gona, in Ethiopia, include sharp-edged cutting tools and cut-marked animal bones, which indicate consumption of skeletal muscle by early hominin butchers. From that point, evidence of hominin meat-eating becomes increasingly more common throughout the Pleistocene archaeological record. Thus, the substantive debate about hominin meat-eating now centers on mode(s) of carcass resource acquisition. Two prominent hypotheses suggest, alternatively, (1) that early Homo hunted ungulate prey by running them to physiological failure and then dispatching them, or (2) that early Homo was relegated to passively scavenging carcass residues abandoned by carnivore predators. Various paleontologically testable predictions can be formulated for both hypotheses. Here we test four predictions concerning age-frequency distributions for bovids that contributed carcass remains to the 1.8 Ma. old FLK 22 Zinjanthropus (FLK Zinj, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) fauna, which zooarchaeological and taphonomic data indicate was formed predominantly by early Homo. In all but one case, the bovid mortality data from FLK Zinj violate test predictions of the endurance running-hunting and passive scavenging hypotheses. When combined with other taphonomic data, these results falsify both hypotheses, and lead to the hypothesis that early Homo operated successfully as an ambush predator.     

Testing a statistical curve‐fitting procedure for quantifying sediment populations within multi‐modal particle‐size distributions

This paper describes a series of tests designed to evaluate the capacity of a personal computer (PC) based statistical curve‐fitting program called MIX to quantify composite populations within multi‐modal particle‐size distributions. Three natural soil samples were analysed by a Coulter Multisizer, and their particle‐size distributions analysed using MIX software to identify the modes, standard deviations and proportions of their composite populations. The particle‐size distributions of the three natural soil samples were then numerically combined in equal proportions using a spreadsheet program to create synthetic particle‐size distributions of known populations. MIX was then tested on the synthetic particle‐size distributions to see if the modes and proportions it identified were similar to those modes and proportions known to characterize the synthetic particle‐size distributions. The main outcome is that MIX can very accurately describe the modal particle size and proportions of the major composite populations within a particle‐size distribution. However MIX has difficulty in identifying small populations (those contributing <10 per cent of a total particle‐size distribution), particularly when they are located in the central sections of particle‐size distributions, overlain by larger populations, or when positioned in the fine tails of distributions. Despite these minor shortcomings, MIX is a valuable tool for the examination and interpretation of particle‐size data. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Statistics of nonlinear wave crests and groups

Groups of large nonlinear waves with sharper higher crests can pose hazards to ships, induce harbor resonance and cause wave-overtopping of fixed and floating structures. Past interest in wave groups has mostly been focused on the statistics and modeling of linear wave groups. Studies on nonlinear wave groups are surprisingly few, and address deep water waves only. Here, statistics of nonlinear wave crests and wave-crest groups in deep and transitional water depths are considered, using an appropriate second-order representation for crest heights and the continuous wave-envelope approach. In particular, theoretical expressions describing the statistics of nonlinear wave crests and their groups are posed in the form of a simple second-order transformation of well-known results on linear waves. Predictions from the transformation so posed compare well with nonlinear wave data gathered in the North Sea, and demonstrate that nonlinearities do affect the statistics of large wave crests and their groups significantly.     

Size‐frequency distributions of Joania cordata and Argyrotheca cuneata (Brachiopoda: Megathyrididae) from the Central Tyrrhenian Sea

Size‐frequency distributions can support reliable inferences concerning population dynamics of brachiopods, but only a few data are available so far. In this study, length and width frequency distributions of dead specimens of the Recent brachiopods Joania cordata and Argyrotheca cuneata from the Marine Protected Area ‘Secche di Tor Paterno’, Central Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy (41°35′ N, 12°20′ E), are reported in order to add new data about size‐frequency distributions of brachiopods. The studied specimens came from death assemblages in the coralligenous substrate, in the Posidonia oceanica meadows, and in the sand channels. The observed patterns vary from left‐skewed (J. cordata) to right‐skewed (A. cuneata), indicating respectively a low and high mortality of smaller individuals. Significant differences between the coralligenous substrate and the P. oceanica meadow were observed for both species, revealing a variation among different habitats. All length and width distributions are clearly polymodal, but the biological meaning of the peaks is difficult to interpret, as the two species seem to have a 2‐year life span. A biometric analysis of shell sizes revealed that length and width are the most variable parameters during the growth of the animal.     

海南省澄迈县雷暴气候特征及其灾害防御

通过统计分析海南省澄迈县1959-2004年逐日雷暴资料,找出雷暴发生时空分布特征,统计1995-2004年10a雷暴发生的影响天气系统,计算出各天气系统影响下雷暴发生的概率。分析结果表明：澄迈县雷暴日46a平均雷暴频次437次,年际变化呈波动减少趋势,5-8月是雷暴发生的高发期,占全年雷暴的53%,16-17时是一天中发生雷暴的最高期,西南方向发生的雷暴略多于其他方向,澄迈县受西南低压槽、南海低压槽和副热带高压等天气系统影响时发生雷暴的概率较大。     

Geometric characteristics and evolution of a tidal channel network in experimental setting

This paper reports on a laboratory study that aims to reproduce a tidal channel network, in order to enhance the understanding of the morphodynamic evolution of the channel characteristics as the network expands and finally reaches equilibrium. A high‐resolution laser system scanned the bed topography at different time steps creating multiple digital elevation models of the channel network. Two hundred and seventy individual channel segments are analyzed and cross‐correlated in terms of their width, depth and length. The laboratory results show positive linear correlations between depth and width as well as between length and width of channel segments of the network configuration at final equilibrium. In a downstream direction, channels appear to widen more than they deepen, indirectly a sign that discharge has a stronger control on channel width than on depth. In contrast to fluvial drainage networks that commonly display fractal and scale‐invariant behavior, the geometric properties of the experimental tidal creek network shows scale dependence. Channel attributes exhibit consistent patterns of exponentially decreasing abundance, with increasing creek length, depth and width. The nature of the observed exponential distributions within creek attributes (width, depth, length) allows for statistical predictability of relative creek attribute dimensions downstream and through time. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A length-biased version of the Birnbaum-Saunders distribution with application in water quality

In this article, we develop a new model based on the Birnbaum-Saunders distribution that results to be both useful and practical for environmental sciences. The density, distribution and hazard functions, moments and properties of this new model are presented. A graphical analysis of the density is also provided. Furthermore, we estimate parameters, propose asymptotic inference and discuss influence diagnostics by using likelihood methods for the new distribution. An illustrative example with real data related to water quality indicates the adequacy on the new distribution.     

BIB-SEM characterization of pore space morphology and distribution in postmature to overmature samples from the Haynesville and Bossier Shales

Four Haynesville Shale and four Bossier Shale samples were investigated using a combination of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Broad Ion Beam (BIB) polishing. This approach enables the microstructure and porosity to be studied down to the mesopore size (<50 nm) in representative areas at the scale of the BIB cross-sections. The samples vary in mineralogy, grain size and TOC and the maturity ranges from 2.42 to 2.58 VR_r in the Haynesville Shale to 1.79–2.26 VR_r in the Bossier Shale. This variety within the samples enabled us to study controls on the porosity distribution in these shales. Visible pores exist as intraparticle pores mainly in carbonate grains and pyrite framboids and as interparticle pores, mainly in the clay-rich matrix. Pores in organic matter show a characteristic porosity with respect to the type of organic matter, which mainly consists of mixtures of amorphous organic matter and minerals, organic laminae and discrete macerals. A clear positive trend of organic-matter porosity with maturity was found. Pore sizes are power law distributed in the range of 4.4 μm to at least 36 nm in equivalent diameter. The differences in power law exponents suggest that a more grain supported, coarse-grained matrix may prevent pores from mechanical compaction. Porosities measured in the BIB cross-sections were significantly lower in comparison to porosities obtained by Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP). This difference is mainly attributed to the different resolution achieved with BIB-SEM and MIP and type of pore network. Extrapolation of pore size distributions (PSDs) enables the BIB-SEM porosity to be estimated down to the resolution of the MIP and thus to upscale microstructural observation at the confined space of the BIB-SEM method to bulk porosity measurement. These inferred porosities are in good agreement with the MIP determined porosities, which underpins the assumption that pores segmented in BIB-SEM mosaics are representative of the MIP methodology.     

Interstellar extinction toward the ultradeep Galactic field of the Chandra observatory from 2MASS data

We have measured the interstellar extinction in the region of ultradeep Galactic-field observations by the Chandra telescope (l ^II, b ^II) ≈ 0.1–1.42 using photometric data from the 2MASS infrared allsky survey. The angular resolution of our interstellar extinction map is 1′.8. We show that the interstellar extinction has a minimum, A _V ～ 3.4, near the center of the Chandra field of view and increases to A _V ～ 5.8–6 at the edge of the field of view. In addition, we show that the bulk of the extinction is gained in the Galactic disk and is approximately the same for all bulge stars. Our results will be subsequently used to process the Chandra data and to estimate the properties of the stellar population in this region.     

Development of Deltas in Some Danish Watercourses

Hasholt. Bent: Development of Deltas in Some Danish Watercourses. Geografisk Tidsskrift 84: 10–16. Copenhagen, January 1984.

Recurrent sedimentation has been observed in three watercourses in western Jutland where the slope of the water surface diminishes due to human intervention. The river bottom was surveyed by a scuba diver, the bedforms were described, and the grain-size distributions analysed. It is concluded that the sedimentation is due to the development of deltas.