Mitochondrial DNA analysis of skeletal material is invaluable in forensic identification, although results can vary widely among remains. Previous studies have included bones of different ages, burial conditions, and even species. In the research presented, a collection of human remains that lacked major confounders such as burial age, interment style, and gross environmental conditions, while ...

The weathering hypothesis states that teen childbearing among African American women is rationalized given greater early exposure to poor physical health and shortened life spans that result from the physical consequences of social inequality in African American communities (i.e., “weathering”). This paper tests a simple yet unexplored test of the basic assumption of the weathering hypothesis: ...

Fossil and phylogenetic evidence indicates legume-rich modern tropical forests replaced Late Cretaceous palm-dominated tropical forests across four continents during the early Cenozoic (58-42 Ma). Tropical legume trees can transform ecosystems via their ability to fix dinitrogen (N2) and higher leaf N compared with non-legumes (35-65%), but it is unclear how their evolutionary rise contributed ...

We tested antlers of Coues white-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus couesi) and mule deer (O. hemionus) in various stages of natural decomposition to determine the degree of weathering that cast antlers could endure and still yield usable DNA. Based on physical characteristics, we partitioned antlers into 7 weathering categories ranging from freshly cast (class 1) to having been exposed to weatheri...

Critical Zone (CZ) research investigates the chemical, physical, and biological processes that modulate the Earth's surface. Here, we advance 12 hypotheses that must be tested to improve our understanding of the CZ: (1) Solar-to-chemical conversion of energy by plants regulates flows of carbon, water, and nutrients through plant-microbe soil networks, thereby controlling the location and extent...

The heliocentric stratification of asteroid spectral types may hold important information on the early evolution of the Solar System. Asteroid spectral taxonomy is based largely on principal component analysis. However, how the surface properties of asteroids, such as the composition and age, are projected in the principal-component (PC) space is not understood well. We decompose multi-band dis...

We have investigated effects of guest colloidal particles on the mesoscopic structures of a surfactant/water system by means of small angle neutron and x-ray scattering techniques. The addition of a small amount of colloidal particles between lamellar slits reduces the undulational fluctuations of lamellae and brings about a lamellar to micelle transition. On the other hand, on addition of coll...

A fast, quantitative image analysis technique was developed to assess potential rock weathering by bacteria. The technique is based on reduction in the surface area of rock particles and counting the relative increase in the number of small particles in ground rock slurries. This was done by recording changes in ground rock samples with an electronic image analyzing process. The slurries were p...

Special Equipment: Artificial weathering devices (several wheels and QUV, Global UV test system), natural exposure site. UV-visible spectrophotometer, IR spectrophotometer linked with a IR microscope, thermal analysis equipment (DSC), fluorescence microscope, chromatographical equipment, goniometer,…. Improvement of durability of coated wood (especially for transparent coatings) Study of the wo...

Abstract The abandoned gypsum quarry at Dingwall, in Canada, is a unique place with peculiar “living” landscape created by expansive hydration of anhydrite process actively operating the weathering zone bottom. It causes rapid volume increase rocks and formation domed tepee-like landforms (several meters length up to 2.09 m high) internal caves (swelling caves, German: Quellungshöhlen ). also s...