The solar magnesium II core-to-wing ratio has been a well-studied proxy for chromospheric activity since 1978. Daily measurements at high spectral (0.1 nm) resolution began with the launch of the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) in 2003. The next generation of measurements from the Extreme Ultraviolet Sensor (EUVS) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 16 (GOES-16) will add high time cadence (every 30 seconds) to the observational Mg II irradiance record. We present a comparison of the two measurements during the period of overlap.

Ultraviolet (UV) Solar spectral Irradiance (SSI) has been measured from orbit on a regular basis since the beginning of the space age. These observations span four Solar Cycles, and they are crucial for our understanding of the Sun-Earth connection and space weather. SSI at these wavelengths are the main drivers for the upper atmosphere including the production and destruction of ozone in the stratosphere. The instruments that measure UV SSI not only require good preflight calibration, but also need a robust method to maintain that calibration on orbit. We will give an overview of the catalog of current and former UV SSI measurements along with the calibration philosophy of each instrument and an estimation of the uncertainties in the published irradiances.

The classic image of Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in Europe envisages them hunting large mammals in largely treeless landscapes. That is partly due to the nature of the surviving archaeological evidence, and the poor preservation of plant remains at such ancient sites. As this study illustrates, however, the potential of Upper Palaeolithic sites to yield macrofossil remains of plants gathered and processed by human groups has been underestimated. Large scale flotation of charred deposits from hearths such as that reported here at Dolní Vӗstonice II not only provides insight into the variety of flora that may have been locally available, but also suggests that some of it was being processed and consumed as food. The ability to exploit plant foods may have been a vital component in the successful colonisation of these cold European habitats.

The majority of the early crops grown in Europe had their origins in south-west Asia, and were part of a package of domestic plants and animals that were introduced by the first farmers. Broomcorn millet, however, offers a very different narrative, being domesticated first in China, but present in Eastern Europe apparently as early as the sixth millennium BC. Might this be evidence of long-distance contact between east and west, long before there is any other evidence for such connections? Or is the existing chronology faulty in some way? To resolve that question, 10 grains of broomcorn millet were directly dated by AMS, taking advantage of the increasing ability to date smaller and smaller samples. These showed that the millet grains were significantly younger than the contexts in which they had been found, and that the hypothesis of an early transmission of the crop from east to west could not be sustained. The importance of direct dating of crop remains such as these is underlined.

Francesco Guala has developed some novel and radical ideas on the problem of external validity, a topic that has not received much attention in the experimental economics literature. In this paper I argue that his views on external validity are not justified and the conclusions which he draws from these views, if widely adopted, could substantially undermine the experimental economics enterprise. In rejecting the justification of these views, the paper reaffirms the importance of experiments in economics.

One consequence of “high stakes testing” in Tuscaloosa area schools has been exclusion of materials science faculty from any meaningful participation in middle and high school classrooms. Beyond the loss of resources from the classroom that Materials Science faculty and their students represent, this also has negative consequences for faculty wanting to build ties to schools to address NSF’s “broader impact” criteria. A group of STEM and Education faculty at The University of Alabama have been testing a team based approach designed to overcome the systemic constraints that prevent effective STEM/K-12 collaboration. Teams consisting of a high school teacher, a STEM faculty member, and a STEM graduate student have spent three weeks during summer 2010 to identify/develop and implement an inquiry based science experiments. The experiments are being tested on science campers at McWane Science Center prior to being assessed in the teachers’ classrooms during the fall semester. The experiments were chosen by each team and represent significant advances over those currently available in the schools. By setting a problem that no team member is able to solve alone an environment was produced where success requires meaningful collaboration. Preliminary qualitative evaluation indicates deeper understanding of the school environment by the STEM faculty and greater respect for the skills teachers bring to this endeavor. Successes in this pilot program have generated credibility with the local school district, opening the door to scaling up the project, and developing further positive ties. Incorporation of lead teachers from Alabama Science in Motion also allows the experiments developed to be widely disseminated throughout Alabama, as well as providing a mechanism to identify existing experiments to enhance.

We studied the thickness variation of equally doped ZnO:Al films used as conductive window layer in Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 (CIGSSe) thin film solar cells. The IV-characteristics of solar cells with window layer thickness of d1=200nm exhibit a strong enhancement of the short-circuit current density JSC (ΔJSC = 3mA/cm2) as compared to samples with module-like ZnO:Al-film thickness (d2=1200nm). Accordingly, the quantum efficiency reveals the spectral regimes where the JSC-gain occurs. Moreover, current-voltage measurements reveal that the cells with thicker ZnO:Al exhibit slightly decreased open circuit voltage VOC. This finding can be assigned to a decreased net-doping density NA, which appears to be introduced by additional heat flux during the longer process time required for deposition of thicker ZnO:Al films. However, the improved efficiency of solar cells with thinner window layer comes along with an increase of the series resistance (RS) by almost a factor of 2, which will have consequences for the series connection of elements in a module. XRD-diffractograms and SEM cross-section imaging suggest that the enhanced RS in cells with thin ZnO:Al is not exclusively related to the thickness but is also due to a reduced (002)-texture and an elongated lateral charge carrier pathway.

Oropsylla hirsuta is the primary flea of the black-tailed prairie dog and is a vector of the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis. We examined the population genetic structure of O. hirsuta fleas collected from 11 prairie dog colonies, 7 of which had experienced a plague-associated die-off in 1994. In a sample of 332 O. hirsuta collected from 226 host individuals, we detected 24 unique haplotype sequences in a 480 nucleotide segment of the cytochrome oxidase II gene. We found significant overall population structure but we did not detect a signal of isolation by distance, suggesting that O. hirsuta may be able to disperse relatively quickly at the scale of this study. All 7 colonies that were recently decimated by plague showed signs of recent population expansion, whereas 3 of the 4 plague-negative colonies showed haplotype patterns consistent with stable populations. These results suggest that O. hirsuta populations are affected by plague-induced prairie dog die-offs and that flea dispersal among prairie dog colonies may not be dependent exclusively on dispersal of prairie dogs. Re-colonization following plague events from plague-free refugia may allow for rapid flea population expansion following plague epizootics.

The THz spectral region includes a number of important transitions which allow us to trace the evolution of the interstellar medium. Because of the opacity of the atmosphere in this spectral range, the best sites for ground-based THz observations are on the Antarctic Plateau; of these sites, Dome A is expected to be the best. THz survey science can be carried out with small telescopes, easing logistical constraints. By deploying a submillimetre-wave tipper/ telescope to Dome A, we have trialled several technologies for such an instrument, and we are able to test whether the site quality is sufficient for THz surveys.