It is owned by the Southwestern Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The university enrolls about 800 students on a rural, 150-acre campus.The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Adventist Accrediting Association. The nursing program is approved by the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners.
Identifying the origin of perforating lesions on fossil bone is often difficult, and many are considered tooth traces, in spite of more likely and more parsimonious etiologies. Much of this confusion stems from tooth trace criteria that are ambiguous when the context for the lesions is not considered. Mistaken identification of tooth traces has led to misleading interpretations of animal behavior. This study of tooth traces on fossil bones critically reviews previous criteria and applies them to assessing bones from an Edmontosaurus annectens bonebed within the Lance Formation, Wyoming, USA. Of the 3013 bones examined, thirteen bones had features indicative of tooth traces based on gross appearance. Of these, one bone had perforations determined to have a different etiology. Twelve bones had traces attributed to tooth marks, including four bones with Knethichnus parallelum and Linichnus serratus ichnotaxa. Tyrannosaurus rex was identified as the likely inflictor of traces attributable to both ichnotaxa, by comparison of denticle density of carnivore teeth within the bonebed with striation/serration density of the traces. The importance of context in the analysis of perforating lesions on fossil bones is shown through the mistaken identification of features such as neurovasculature foramina and lesions associated with pathology as tooth traces. This study contributes to the literature on biting behavior and refines the criteria used to identify perforations caused by bite marks. The application of these refined criteria also proved useful in accurately identifying tooth traces on bone. This, in turn, enhances the guidelines for recognizing perforations as tooth traces and encourages further research on this topic.
Rapidly rotating newborn magnetars, which originate from binary neutron star (NS) mergers and serve as the central engines of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), may leave some imprints on their prompt gamma-ray lightcurves even though they are far from their radiating fireballs. A high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) would be a unique feature for the magnetar central engine, especially a hypermassive magnetar. By conducting a systematic analysis of the prompt gamma-ray lightcurves from 605 short GRBs observed by Fermi/GBM, we have identified such QPO signals in three GRBs (e.g. GRB 120323A, GRB 181222B, and GRB 190606A). The QPOs that peaked at $1258^{+6}_{-6}$ Hz for GRB 120323A, $623^{+4}_{-4}$ Hz for GRB 181222B, and $1410^{+4}_{-5}$ Hz for GRB 190606A are all with a confidence level above 5.2 σ. The high-frequency QPO signals of those three short GRBs may be caused by a hypermassive magnetar acting as the central engine in a binary neutron star merger of binary neutron star.
The Hanson Ranch (HR) Bonebed is a monodominant assemblage of Edmontosaurus annectens and infrequent remains of other vertebrates within the Lance Formation of northeastern Wyoming. This bonebed, which has yielded more than 13,000 specimens from five Main Quarries over the last 25 years, is interpreted to have formed by deposition of a clastic debris flow, generating a normally-graded, fossil-dense assemblage. To clarify the geochemical history of the HR Bonebed and assess its mode of formation independent of traditional taphonomic means, we conducted trace element analyses of 12 bones from the assemblage using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. A majority of the examined bones were found to exhibit rapidly-declining rare earth element (REE) profiles, indicative of brief exposure to groundwaters, modest overall trace element uptake, and minimal late-diagenetic alteration. However, noteworthy variations were also identified among the specimens. In particular, both positive and negative redox anomalies were identified at the cortical margins and whole-bone level, indicating variable exposure within and among specimens to both reducing and oxidizing conditions. Several of the examined specimens, especially those of taxa other than Edmontosaurus, also exhibit less fractionation among REEs and more homogenous internal compositions. We infer these contrasts to arise from more protracted pore-fluid interactions for some specimens than others, and thus that select bones were attritionally added into the assemblage during transport to the final site of burial. These collective findings independently support prior taphonomic inferences that the bonebed horizon primarily hosts a partiallyreworked or short-distance-transported mass death assemblage, and that this depositional history has imparted infrequent attritional signatures into specimens preserved in the bonebed. Our data thereby establish a baseline for comparison for many other fossil sites within the Lance Formation in the region, similar study of which can illuminate the suite of paleoenvironments and diagenetic settings recorded by these highlyfossiliferous strata.
The gamma-ray light curve of long-duration GRB 220711B, is characterized by a multipeaked structure with a duration lasting '105 s. More interestingly, the X-ray afterglow light curve is composed of a plateau emission smoothly connected with a similar to t(-2) segment overlapping some flares followed by an extremely steep decay. By analysing the light curves of both prompt emission and X-ray afterglow, no high-confidence-level quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) signals are found in the light curves of the prompt emission (e.g. Burst Alert Telescope and Gamma-ray Burst Monitor), but it is found that a QPO signal at '50 s above 6cr confidence level indeed exist in the X-ray afterglow. Here, we propose that a supra-massive magnetar as the central engine of GRB 220711B with precession motion is a good interpretation of the features of the X-ray emission. The initial plateau emission and followed decay segment, as well as the extremely steep-decay segment, are consistent with the physical process of supra-massive magnetar spin-down and then collapse into black hole. Moreover, the QPO signal in the X-ray emission can be explained as an effect of the precession motion of the magnetar. If this is the case, one can derive various magnetar parameters such as the initial period ( P-0 ) and surface magnetic field strength ( B-p ) within a pseudo-redshift range of [1.08, 4.27]. By considering beaming corrections with jet opening angle 5 degrees, we find that P-0 and B-p lie within the range of [1.87, 6.25] ms and [1 . 47 x 10(16) , 3 . 09 x 10(16) ] G, respectively. The parameter of Bp is slightly larger than that of other typical long-duration GRBs, but P-0 fall in a reasonable range.
Mera County is located in the eastern lowlands of the Llanganates-Sangay Connectivity Corridor (CELS) and is considered a priority conservation area due to the high degree of endemism and existing bio- logical diversity. In the present study, we analyzed snake records from three databases as well as preserved specimens from two local informal collections, four formal collections, and five international collection da- tabases with the participation of numerous students and citizen scientists. Collectively, we examined 85 years' worth of material-666 individual records, representing seven families, 31 genera, and 66 species. We report seven species previously unrecorded in the study area and 14 new size and elevation records. Our re- sults place this small county among the most snake-diverse areas in the world. Our citizen-science approach highlights the value of collaborative work and regional initiatives to involve local people and organizations (private, government, and universities) in scientific efforts.
