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Evidence Alone (evidence + alone)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Earth and Environmental Science	50%

Selected Abstracts

The hidden record: Late Holocene landscapes and settlement archaeology in the Lower Ohio River Valley

GEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2002
C. Russell Stafford
From extensive backhoe trenching and coring in the Great Miami,Ohio River confluence region, in conjunction with a large suite of radiocarbon ages, we have identified large tracts of late Holocene alluvium. Thick blankets of Historic alluvium (post-settlement) may also cover levees of the Ohio River. In conjunction with other studies in the Outer Bluegrass Region of the lower Ohio River valley, it is possible to document an association between floodplain Mollisols, Inceptisols, and Entisols and late Holocene-aged landforms. Levees appear to have stabilized between 1000 and 2000 yr B.P. Although buried soils are rare, archaeological materials were ubiquitous in late Holocene Landform Sediment Assemblages. Because a substantial volume of valley fill is late Holocene in age, Woodland sites of all types are frequently buried, and Fort Ancient sites may be buried by Historic alluvium. Therefore, if Woodland or later settlement studies in this region are based on surface evidence alone, they are likely to be biased. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source]

Constraining dark energy anisotropic stress

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 2 2007
David F. Mota
ABSTRACT We investigate the possibility of using cosmological observations to probe and constrain an imperfect dark energy fluid. We consider a general parametrization of the dark energy component accounting for an equation of state, speed of sound and viscosity. We use present and future data from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, large-scale structures and Type Ia supernovae. We find that both the speed of sound and viscosity parameters are difficult to nail down with the present cosmological data. Also, we argue that it will be hard to improve the constraints significantly with future CMB data sets. The implication is that a perfect fluid description might ultimately turn out to be a phenomenologically sufficient description of all the observational consequences of dark energy. The fundamental lesson is, however, that even then one cannot exclude, by appealing to observational evidence alone, the possibility of imperfectness in dark energy. [source]

The Limits to Evidence-Based Policy: Evidence, Emotion and Criminal Justice1

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 2 2010
Arie Freiberg
While ,evidence-based' or ,rationalist' approaches to criminal policy may appeal to technocrats, bureaucrats and a number of academics, they often fail to compete successfully with the affective approaches to law and order policies which resonate with the public and which appear to meet deep-seated psychological needs. They also often fail to recognise that ,policy' and ,politics' are related concepts and that debates about criminal justice are played out in broader arenas than the academy, the bureau or the agency. To be successful, penal reform must take account of the emotions people feel in the face of wrongdoing. Further, successful reform must take into account changes in public ,mood' or emotions over time and be sensitive to different political and social cultures. This article argues that criminal justice policies are more likely to be adopted if, in addition to the gathering and presentation of evidence, they recognise and deal with the roles of emotions, symbols, faith, belief and religion in the criminal justice system. It also recognises that evidence alone is unlikely to be the major determinant of policy outcomes and that the creation and successful implementation of policy also requires extensive engagement and evidence-based dialogue with interested and affected parties. This necessitates a different kind of modelling for evidence-based policy processes. [source]

Aerodynamic Characteristics of the Crest with Membrane Attachment on Cretaceous Pterodactyloid Nyctosaurus

ACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 1 2009
Lida XING
Abstract: The Nyctosaurus specimen KJ1 was reconstructed under the hypothesis that there is a membrane attached to the crest; the so-called headsail crest. The aerodynamic forces and moment acting on the headsail crest were analyzed. It was shown that KJ1 might adjust the angle of the headsail crest relative to the air current as one way to generate thrust (one of the aerodynamic forces, used to overcome body drag in forward flight) and that the magnitude of the thrust and moment could vary with the gesture angle and the relative location between the aerodynamic center of the headsail crest and body's center of gravity. Three scenarios were tested for comparison: the crest with membrane attachment, the crest without membrane attachment and the absence of a cranial crest. It was shown that the aerodynamic characteristics (increasing, maintaining and decreasing thrusts and moment) would have almost disappear in flight for the crest without membrane attachment and was non-existent without the cranial crest. It is suggested from aerodynamics evidence alone that Nyctosaurus specimen KJ1 had a membrane attached to the crest and used this reconstructed form for auxiliary flight control. [source]