Modern North American Research Articles

Use of Computer Vision Data for Detailed Driver Behavior Analysis and Trajectory Interpretation at Roundabouts

With recent important upgrades to North American intersection design guides, roundabouts are gaining popularity as a method of reducing road conflicts, streamlining flow, and curbing excessive speeding at busy intersections. The current design approach, however, makes use of mean spot speed measures and design criteria that do not take into account yielding behavior and acceleration and deceleration, all of which may be affected by regional driving culture and local roundabout design. This research paper introduces the methodology being developed for the detailed analysis of driving behavior, trajectory interpretation, and conflict measures in modern North American roundabouts, based on video data extracted by means of computer vision. The analysis explores the methods used to prepare microscopic speed maps, compiled speed profiles, lane-change counts, and gap time measures. The paper introduces and discusses the interpretation of trajectories at the scale of roundabout merge sections instead of looking at safety from the point of view of a roundabout as a unified system. The research found significant variation in distributions of speed across five case study roundabouts in the province of Quebec, Canada; this result may be explained by regional differences in design and road use. The paper also found aggressive gap times and uneven traffic flow as contributing factors to speed.

Ancient DNA evidence for genetic continuity in arctic dogs

The domestic dog fulfills many functions for their human companions, such as hauling, guarding, and protection. Consequently, humans have taken dogs to nearly every corner of the globe. Recent translocations of Western dogs stemming from the Victorian era dog fancy have erased some of the ancient genetic signatures of these earlier migrations. Here we used DNA of ancient and modern dogs from the North American Arctic of Alaska and Greenland to assess their genetic continuity in time and space. We successfully sequenced 23 archaeological (ca. AD 1250–1910) and recent (ca. AD 1930–1990) surface-collected Canis bone and tooth samples and compared them to 51 modern Inuit Sled Dogs and to published sequences of modern Alaskan Malamutes (and additional Inuit Sled Dogs) to test for evidence of lineage replacement or genetic continuity through time. Ancient samples from Alaska and Greenland and modern sequences from Greenland all contained a high frequency of haplotype A31, which was previously described only in modern North American Arctic dogs. Thus, A31 was a common thread tying the entire North American Arctic together prior to European colonization and, in the Eastern Arctic, indicates genetic continuity between past and present dogs as well. However, A31 is rare in modern Alaskan dogs, consistent with post-colonization replacement by Eurasian matrilines.

Carbonate-rich melt infiltration in peridotite xenoliths from the Eurasian–North American modern plate boundary (Chersky Range, Yakutia)

A suite of mainly spinel peridotite and subordinate pyroxenite xenoliths and megacrysts were studied in detail, enabling us to characterize upper mantle conditions and processes beneath the modern North American–Eurasian continental plate boundary. The samples were collected from 37-Ma-old basanites cropping out in the Main Collision Belt of the Chersky Range, Yakutia Republic (Russian Far East). The spinel lherzolites reflect a mantle sequence, equilibrated at temperatures of 890–1,025 °C at pressures of 1.1–2 GPa, with melt extraction estimated to be around 2–6 %. The spinel harzburgites are characterized by lower P–T equilibration conditions and estimated melt extraction up to 12 %. Minor cryptic metasomatic processes are recorded in the clinopyroxene trace elements, revealing that percolating hydrous fluid-rich melts and basaltic melts affected the peridotites. One of the lherzolites preserves a unique melt droplet with primary dolomite in perfect phase contact with Na-rich aluminosilicate glass and sodalite. On the basis of the well-constrained P–T frame of the xenolith suite, as well as the rigorously documented melt extraction and metasomatic history of this upper mantle section, we discuss how a carbonated silicate melt infiltrated the lherzolite at depth and differentiated into an immiscible carbonate and silicate liquid shortly before the xenolith was transported to the surface by the host basalt. Decreasing temperatures triggered crystallization of primary dolomite from the carbonate melt fraction and sodalite as well as quenched glass from the Na-rich aluminosilicate melt fraction. Rapid entrainment and transport to the Earth’s surface prevented decarbonatization processes as well as reaction phenomena with the host lherzolite, preserving this exceptional snapshot of upper mantle carbonatization and liquid immiscibility.

Palynology of Neogene sediments at the Gray Fossil Site, Tennessee, USA: Floristic implications

The Gray Fossil Site, northeastern Tennessee, is formed by multiple karst sub-basins filled with lacustrine sediments. The oldest sediments found were recently dated as Paleo-Eocene by palynological means, whereas the youngest sediments are considered Mio-Pliocene based on their faunal assemblage. In this study, we examined the Mio-Pliocene lacustrine sediments from the Gray Fossil Site to determine the Late Neogene floral characteristics of a site within the southern Appalachian Mountains. The Mio-Pliocene lacustrine sinkhole fill preserves a unique fossil assemblage, which includes invertebrate, vertebrate, and floral remains. Floral remains are represented by wood, seeds, leaves, and pollen grains. Forty-seven palynological samples from six different test-pits were analyzed. All pits exhibit a low pollen yield, a result of basic pH levels, drought, and fire events that occurred during deposition. The palynofloral assemblage has a low to moderate diversity and is largely dominated by a Quercus–Carya–Pinus assemblage (~90% of the palynoflora). The presence of Pterocarya grains supports a Late Neogene age for these lacustrine sediments. Comparison with modern pollen-based floras from North America suggests that: (1) examined pits can be discriminated into two separate groups based on their palynofloral signatures, (2) the Mio-Pliocene vegetation at the site ranged between a closed to open woodland setting, depending on the intensity and frequency of drought and fire events, and (3) the fossil palynofloral assemblage is comparable to what would be expected in the modern North American Mesophytic Forest region.

The genus Mahonia in the Miocene of Turkey: Taxonomy and biogeographic implications

The genus Mahonia has a disjunct modern distribution with the New World Group Occidentales in northwestern North America and Central America and the mostly Old World Group Orientales in Central and Southeast Asia. Group Orientales has one species in North America. Morphologically, the two groups can be distinguished by two main patterns of leaf venation. Leaflets in the Group Orientales have a palmate-festooned brochidodromous venation and those of Group Occidentales usually have a pinnate-brochidodromous to (semi)craspedodromous venation, with some intermediate forms. In North America both Orientales and Occidentales can be traced from Eocene to Miocene strata. No unequivocal records of Mahonia are known from East Asia. A few Oligocene to Pleistocene fossils from Europe can be assigned to Group Orientales and to the section Horridae Fedde of Group Occidentales. Here we report two new species of Mahonia from the Miocene of Turkey, which clearly fall within the morphological range of the Group Orientales. One species, also found in the Oligocene–Miocene of western North America, is quite similar to Himalayan and East and Southeast Asian modern species. The other resembles the single modern North American member of Group Orientales. The high diversity of Mahonia in Europe and Asia Minor from the Oligocene onwards includes members of at least four lineages. The close relationships of these fossils with contemporary North American species suggest that the genus had reached western Eurasia from North America via the North Atlantic during or prior to the Oligocene. Colonization of Central and East Asia may have occurred from western Eurasia or North America, or from both directions.

The role of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation on medieval drought in North America: Synthesizing results from proxy data and climate models

During medieval times (900–1300AD; henceforth MT), persistent drought (‘megadrought’) was a ubiquitous feature for much of North America. To better understand the mechanisms for these droughts, relationships between specific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and drought in North America have been synthesized from previous studies using modern observations, proxy paleo-data, and simulations from multiple climate models. Particular focus is on the role of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), a roughly 60–80year fluctuation in the North Atlantic between relatively warm (‘warm phase’) and cool (‘cold phase’) SSTs. Present-day relationships, for which instrumental observations can be used, indicate that persistent droughts in the U.S. Great Plains and Southwest are closely related to AMO. During AMO warm (cold) phases, most of North America is dry (wet). The MT drought is closely related to AMO-like warm phases in the North Atlantic. However, the MT drought is just one of numerous droughts on centennial timescales affected by the AMO that new results from the proxy record indicate impacted North America during the Holocene. The influence of North Atlantic SST on modern North American drought is examined using simulations made by global climate models. When forced by warm North Atlantic SST anomalies, all models captured significant drying over North America, despite some regional differences. Overall, the ensemble of the 5 models could well reproduce the statistical relationship between the dry/wet fluctuations in the North America and North Atlantic SST anomalies. Using one particular climate model, we further demonstrated that warm North Atlantic SST anomalies might have played a major role in the MT drought over much of North America. The MT drought could be simulated either by perpetual La Niña-like conditions in the eastern Pacific or warm phase of the AMO in the North Atlantic. Best match to proxy reconstructions was obtained, however, when both La Niña and warm phase AMO conditions were imposed. During the warm phase of AMO, the subtropical high is displaced north and east of its mean location, reducing moisture transport into the US except along the mid-Atlantic coast. During the cool phase, the subtropical high strengthens and pushes westward, allowing for more moisture transport into the central and western US. In summary, the AMO modulates the large-scale circulation to be more (less) conducive to precipitation over the central and western U.S. during cold (warm) phases. Its effects must be considered along with other, shorter time-scale factors such as ENSO, or PDO, as well as local effects that affect land surface–atmosphere interactions, such as soil moisture.

Rapid wetland expansion during European settlement and its implication for marsh survival under modern sediment delivery rates

Fluctuations in sea-level rise rates are thought to dominate the formation and evolution of coastal wetlands. Here we demonstrate a contrasting scenario in which land-use–related changes in sediment delivery rates drive the formation of expansive marshland, and vegetation feedbacks maintain their morphology despite recent sediment supply reduction. Stratigraphic analysis and radiocarbon dating in the Plum Island Estuary (Massachusetts, United States) suggest that salt marshes expanded rapidly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries due to increased rates of sediment delivery following deforestation associated with European settlement. Numerical modeling coupled with the stratigraphic observations suggests that existing marshland could survive, but not form under the low suspended sediment concentrations observed in the estuary today. These results suggest that many of the expansive marshes that characterize the modern North American coast are metastable relicts of high nineteenth century sediment delivery rates, and that recent observations of degradation may represent a slow return to pre-settlement marsh extent. In contrast to ecosystem management practices in which restoring pre-anthropogenic conditions is seen as a way to increase ecosystem services, our results suggest that widespread efforts to restore valuable coastal wetlands actually prevent some systems from returning to a natural state.

The erethizontid fossil from the Uquía formation of Argentina should not be referred to the genus Erethizon

Abstract In 2007 , Reguero et al. described a 2.5 Ma erethizontid dentary from the Uquia Formation in Argentina (MACN5376) and referred it to the genus Erethizon , a genus found at present only in North America. They based their generic identification on the presence in the fossil of a markedly inflected angular process. I argue in this commentary that this single trait (the angular process) in a single incomplete fossil is insufficient evidence for the Erethizon attribution, for the following reasons: 1. The trait (the inflected angular process) is variable in modern South and North American porcupines and observer bias and/or allometry may be responsible for observed differences; 2. Among fossil South American porcupines, the inflected angular process is not unique to the Uquian fossil; 3. The fossil possesses other traits (including one trait newly described in this paper) associated with modern South American ( Coendou ) porcupines and not modern Erethizon ; and 4. The traits by which we recognize modern Erethizon , primarily related to the genus’s ability to survive severe winters, are most readily explained by evolution driven by the South American porcupine immigrants’ exposure in North America to that severe weather. The Uquian fossil is not Erethizon and should be attributed for the present to the genus Coendou .

The first fossil cyphophthalmid harvestman from Baltic amber

The first fossil cyphophthalmid harvestman (Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi) from Palaeogene (Eocene) Baltic amber is described. This is only the third fossil example of this basal harvestman lineage; the others being from the probably slightly younger Bitterfeld amber and the much older, early Cretaceous, Myanmar (Burmese) amber. Although incomplete and lacking most of the appendages, the new Baltic amber fossil can be identified as a fe- male. The somatic characters preserved, especially spiracle morphology and the coxo-genital region, allow it to be assigned with some confidence to the extant genus Siro Latreille, 1796 (Sironidae). This fossil is formally described here as Siro balticus sp. nov. It resembles modern North American Siro species more than modern European ones, and can be distinguished principally on its relatively large size and the outline form of the body.

The Modern North American Anti-Cult Movement: Its Rise and Demise According to Resource Mobilization Theory

The Modern North American Anti-Cult Movement: Its Rise and Demise According to Resource Mobilization Theory

Mother and the Other: Situating New Zealand Women’s Captivity Narratives in a Transcolonial Settler Culture of Anxiety

This article analyses nineteenth-century women’s captivity narratives in the white settler colony New Zealand. It asks how white femininity and indigenous masculinity are represented and how these notions relate to representations of white masculinity and indigenous femininity. Moreover, the article examines the relationship between colonial gender identities and British bourgeois ideals of respectable gender images. By comparing the New Zealand case with the early modern North American narrative of Mary Rowlandson and the Australian Eliza Fraser stories, the author argues that New Zealand can be included in a transcolonial culture of captivity, as it shares a transcolonial repertoire of discursive rhetorics, strategies and anxieties.

The reticulate origin of modern plane trees (Platanus, Platanaceae): A nuclear marker puzzle

AbstractHybridization plays a major role in speciation. However, hybridization and reticulate evolution in general are poorly understood in tree species because genetic documentation is often missing. Analyses of biparentally inherited gene regions allow detection of reticulate signals. Multicopy and single‐copy nuclear markers may show significant intraindividual variability owing to reticulation processes. Naturally, such processes induce incompatible phylogenetic signal resulting in incongruent genealogies. Data from three nuclear markers, two multicopy nrDNA spacers, and the single‐copy 2nd intron of the LEAFY gene, mirror ancient and recent horizontal gene flow in plane trees (Platanus). In addition to previously assembled data from the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of the 35S ribosomal DNA, we found atypical 5S rDNA intergenic spacer sequences (5S‐IGS) causing significant intra‐ and interindividual polymorphism, and a conspicuous LEAFY intron dimorphism. A detailed framework of reticulate molecular evolution of Platanus can be erected using splits graphs based on distances between cloned sequences or individuals, and competing topologies. Two hundred and sixty‐one 5S‐IGS sequences and LEAFY genotyping of 71 individuals via sequence analysis and PCR‐RFLP support a previous ITS study (including pseudogenous and non‐pseudogenous variants) suggesting that the modern North American taxa P. rzedowskii and P. occidentalis var. palmeri are the result of ancient hybridization. Platanus occidentalis var. palmeri requires taxonomic revision and is provisionally treated at species rank.

Oxygen isotope ratios in fossil wood cellulose: Isotopic composition of Eocene- to Holocene-aged cellulose

We measured the δ18O of cellulose (δ18Ocel) extracted from fossil wood collected at 9 sites in the northern and southern hemispheres as a potential source of information about precipitation δ18O (δ18Oppt) in the past and paleotemperatures. The samples had been buried in fluvial sediments for periods of time ranging from ca. 45 million to 250 years. At the oldest localities (high latitude, Eocene- through Pliocene-age sites in Canada and Russia), mean annual temperature (MAT) estimates derived from the modern relationship between MAT and δ18Ocel are 6–16°C lower than the MAT estimates derived from other biological proxies. Estimates of Pleistocene and Holocene mean annual temperatures are close to the modern values at those sites. These results are consistent with other recent findings that the MAT/δ18Oppt relationship across North America was not constant throughout the Cenozoic. Paleo-δ18Oppt estimates derived from fossil cellulose and the modern North American relationship between δ18Ocel and δ18Oppt are within the current annual range of δ18Oppt values at all locations. The middle Eocene δ18Oppt we determined from arctic cellulose samples (−21.9‰) is consistent with river water δ18O determined in two other studies (−19.1‰ to −22‰). These findings provide some evidence that a precipitation δ18O signal may be retained in wood cellulose during millions of years of burial, and that latitudinal patterns in δ18Oppt may not have changed much during the past 45Ma. These interpretations depend, of course, on the assumption that the isotopic composition of the cellulose has not changed during burial, an assumption for which it is difficult to gather direct evidence. XRD analysis shows that the crystalline form of the fossil cellulose we used to estimate paleoprecipitation δ18O and paleo-MAT is the same as that of modern cellulose, and that the samples are free of quartz and iron oxide contaminants that result in negative errors in measured δ18Ocel.

Acute Postinfectious Glomerulonephritis in the Modern Era

Acute postinfectious glomerulonephritis (APIGN) is uncommon in adults, and its incidence is progressively declining in developed countries. To our knowledge there are no modern North American series addressing epidemiology and outcome. Here we report the clinical and pathologic findings in 86 cases of adult APIGN diagnosed by renal biopsy in a large New York referral center between 1995 and 2005. The male:female ratio was 2:1, and mean age was 56 years, with 33.7% aged older than 64 years. Of the patients, 38.4% had an immunocompromised background, including diabetes (29.1%), malignancy (4.7%), alcoholism (2.3%), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (2.3%), and intravenous drug use (1.2%). The most common sites of infection were upper respiratory tract (23.3%), skin (17.4%), lung (17.4%), and heart/endocarditis (11.6%). The 2 most frequently identified infectious agents were streptococcus (27.9%) and staphylococcus (24.4%). Hypocomplementemia was present in 73.9% of patients. The most common histologic patterns were diffuse (72.1%), focal (12.8%), and mesangial (8.1%) proliferative glomerulonephritis. Outcome analysis was performed on the 52 patients with a follow-up of >/=3 months (mean, 25 mo). Among the 41 patients without underlying diabetic glomerulosclerosis, 23 (56.1%) achieved complete remission, 11 (26.8%) had persistent renal dysfunction, and 7 (17.1%) progressed to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Of the 11 patients with underlying diabetic glomerulosclerosis, 2 (18.2%) had persistent renal dysfunction, and the remaining 9 (81.8%) progressed to ESRD (p < 0.001). In patients without underlying diabetic glomerulosclerosis, correlates of complete remission were younger age, female sex, lower serum creatinine at biopsy, and absence of immunocompromised state. By multivariate analysis, age and serum creatinine at biopsy inversely correlated with complete remission, and serum creatinine at biopsy was the only correlate with ESRD. Outcome did not correlate with any pathologic feature (including crescents) or steroid treatment. Diabetes and aging have emerged as major risk factors for adult APIGN. Full recovery of renal function can be expected in just over half of patients, and prognosis is dismal in those with underlying diabetic glomerulosclerosis.

Stable carbon and hydrogen isotopes from bat guano in the Grand Canyon, USA, reveal Younger Dryas and 8.2 ka events

We inferred climate change through the Pleistocene-Holocene transition from δ 13 C and δD values of bat guano deposited from 14.5 to 6.5 ka (calendar ka) in Bat Cave, Grand Canyon, Arizona. The δ 13 C and δD values generally covaried, indicating that regional late Pleistocene climate was relatively cool and wet, and early Holocene climate gradually became warmer with increased summer precipitation until ca. 9 ka, at which time the onset of modern North American Monsoon–like conditions occurred. During the Younger Dryas event, δ 13 C values decreased, whereas δD values increased, indicating a cool and possibly drier period. We also observed a distinct isotopic anomaly during the 8.2 ka event, at which time both δ 13 C and δD values decreased. The δ 13 C values abruptly increased at 8.0 ka, suggesting a rapid change in atmospheric circulation and greater infl uence from convective storms originating from the south. Deposits of bat guano represent a largely untapped source of paleoenvironmental information that can provide continuous and long-term continental archives of environmental change.

Incest, Inbreeding, and Intrafamilial Conflict: Analyzing the Boundaries of Sexual Permissiveness in Modern North America

Our ability to critically analyze the effect of incestuous activity on society is complicated by the fact that such activity may take place in several different types of relationships, each of which play somewhat different roles within the family and community. Thus, if we are to analyze this effect in any meaningful manner, we must first take care to differentiate the various forms of incest from one another, and to study their consequences separately so that any effects due to relationship status, rather than to incest per se, can be taken into account. We must also ensure that we separate our definition of incest from that of non-consensual sex—that is, incest that occurs in couples in which one partner is too young to legally consent should be distinguished from incest that occurs between two consenting adults (i.e. incest per se), and the effects of these two variants of incest should as well be assessed separately. Using these careful definitions, it can be logically argued that incest on its own should not be prohibited in modern North American society, as the damage to our freedom that such a prohibition would entail cannot be justified by what little unambiguous evidence there is to support its case.

A pre‐European settlement pollen–climate calibration set for Minnesota, USA: developing tools for palaeoclimatic reconstructions

AbstractAim The bias in modern North American pollen assemblages by landscape disturbance from Euro‐American settlement has long been overlooked in the construction of pollen–climate transfer functions. Our aim is to examine this problem and to develop an unbiased pre‐settlement pollen–climate transfer function, and to test its performance and inference power in comparison with commonly used techniques.Location Minnesota, USA, is of palaeoclimatic interest because within the state are located two continental‐scale ecotones, controlled by temperature and available moisture. Shifts of these ecotones can be tracked using palaeoecological techniques.Methods Using a data set of pre‐settlement pollen assemblages from 133 lakes, which were coupled to climate data from the earliest instrumental records (i.e. 1895–1924), a pre‐settlement pollen–climate data set was developed that lacked the influence of anthropogenic landscape disturbance. A corresponding modern pollen data set (from lake sediment core tops) and a modern climate (i.e. 1961–90) data set were also developed. The two pollen sets were compared to demonstrate the effects of landscape disturbance from human activities. Ordination (redundancy analysis with Monte Carlo permutation tests) and regression techniques (generalized linear modelling) were used to establish the relationships between the early instrumental climate variables and pre‐settlement pollen assemblages and individual taxa, respectively. Transfer functions for the most suitable climate variables (i.e. those forming a minimal set of non‐collinear climate variables that explained the greatest amount of pollen variance) were developed from the pre‐settlement data set using bootstrapping.Results Comparison of pre‐settlement pollen and modern pollen showed an over‐representation of Ambrosia, Chenopodiaceae and Poaceae, and an under‐representation of arboreal taxa (e.g. Pinus, Quercus, Ostrya) in the modern assemblages. Not surprisingly, ordination and regression techniques showed a strong relationship between the early instrumental climate variables and pre‐settlement pollen assemblages and taxa. Transfer functions were developed for May and February mean temperature and available moisture. Pre‐settlement transfer functions substantially improved the root mean squared error by 37–72% in comparison with modern transfer functions inferring pre‐settlement conditions, suggesting that the modern transfer functions have poorer predictive abilities.Main conclusions For climatic reconstructions, there can be a serious distortion of inferences based solely on modern pollen–climate data sets in regions where anthropogenic landscape disturbance has occurred. By using historical climate data, coupled with pre‐disturbance pollen assemblages, robust transfer functions for temperature and effective moisture were developed.

The Influence of State Annexation Laws on the Growth of Selected Southern Cities

A major theme in the study of the modern North American city is the disparity between the central city and its suburbs. This paper addresses one facet of this issue by exploring the relationship among metropolitan population growth, types of annexation legislation, growth of special districts and the health of central cities as measured by rates of population growth. We ask: does annexation policy influence central city growth? To test these linkages we employ a classic typology of state annexation laws that gauges the range of options for public involvement in the decision to annex. Data describing growth in population and in the number of special districts and municipalities within MSAs in a sample of nine southern states are used to test three hypotheses. The states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina and Tennessee. Our results suggest that the more restrictive the annexation legislation, the greater the level of political fragmentation in the form of increased development of special districts. On the other hand, we find that less strict annexation legislation provides more latitude for the central city growth.

BARCSoySNP23: a panel of 23 selected SNPs for soybean cultivar identification

This report describes a set of 23 informative SNPs (BARCSoySNP23) distributed on 19 of the 20 soybean linkage groups that can be used for soybean cultivar identification. Selection of the SNPs to include in this set was made based upon the information provided by each SNP for distinguishing a diverse set of soybean genotypes as well as the linkage map position of each SNP. The genotypes included the ancestors of North American cultivars, modern North American cultivars and a group of Korean cultivars. The procedure used to identify this subset of highly informative SNP markers resulted in a significant increase in the power of identification versus any other randomly selected set of equal number. This conclusion was supported by a simulation which indicated that the 23-SNP panel can uniquely distinguish 2,200 soybean cultivars, whereas sets of randomly selected 23-SNP panels allowed the unique identification of only about 50 cultivars. The 23-SNP panel can efficiently distinguish each of the genotypes within four maturity group sets of additional cultivars/lines that have identical classical pigmentation and morphological traits. Comparatively, the 13 trinucleotide SSR set published earlier (BARCSoySSR13) has more power on a per locus basis because of the multi-allelic nature of SSRs. However, the assay of bi-allelic SNP loci can be multi-plexed using non-gel based techniques allowing for rapid determination of the SNP alleles present in soybean genotypes, thereby compensating for their relatively low information content. Both BARCSoySNP23 and BARCSoySSR13 were highly congruent relative to identifying genotypes and for estimating population genetic differences.

Frequencies of Morphological Characteristics in Two Contemporary Forensic Collections: Implications for Identification*

Positive identification relies on comparison of antemortem and postmortem data. Some identifications are based on morphological features such as fracture, pathological condition, and surgical hardware, despite little literature indicating the frequencies of such traits. This study examines whether such features are sufficiently rare as to be deemed individualizing. Data were collected on two modern North American skeletal collections (N=482 individuals). Presence/absence of features was scored by skeletal element and side. Results indicate that frequencies vary by geographic region (higher frequency of fractures and pathological conditions in New Mexico while individuals in Tennessee were more likely to have surgical interventions), many features such as fractures are remarkably common and that even suites of traits may not be individualizing. Caution is warranted when using written data rather than radiographic comparisons as the primary source of identification. The implications of these findings to missing person databases are also discussed.