Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be a powerful paleontological tool. This project’s goal was to digitally reconstruct a large, mostly-articulated mastodon (Mammut sp.) excavated from the Gray Fossil Site during the 2015 to 2018 field seasons. This was done by compiling total station survey data, field notes, sketch maps, and cataloged specimen data within ArcGIS Pro. Field drawn sketch maps were geo-referenced to relevant survey points. Then, a polygon layer was created by tracing the spatially referenced field drawings. Each polygon was given the specimen’s designated field number and connected to a table containing all associated field data. The result was a polygon layer that displayed all major bones and bone fragments of the mastodon which was linked to museum catalog information. Researchers can use this digital product to interpret site taphonomy, examine the distribution of skeletal elements or fossil taxa, or potentially identify areas of interest for future excavations. This workflow will streamline future specimen digitization efforts at the Gray Fossil Site.

The Coats-Hines site (40WM31) is a potential pre-Clovis site located in Franklin, Tennessee. The site rests, geographically, at the convergence of the Central Basin and Western Highland Rim. The site was discovered during the construction of a nearby golf course when a salvage team uncovered a mature female mastodon.. The site was later excavated in 1994-1995, during which time two additional mastodons were uncovered, in direct association with lithic artifacts. Preliminary radiocarbon dates reveal the site was deposited during the late Pleistocene epoch at roughly 12,000^(14)C yr BP. During the summer of 2012, the site was excavated with the goal of determining the depositional setting of the site and geographic region, as well as establishing the antiquity of the archaeological remains. The site geology was determined through field interpretation and texturing, micromorphological analysis, laboratory particle size analysis, and radiocarbon dating. Sedimentation at the site is a combination of cherty colluvium from upslope as well as alluvium. Four chronostratigraphic sequences of sedimentation were determined to have occurred during the last glacial, the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, the Holocene, and modern time periods. The volume, distribution, and composition of the nine defined stratigraphic units are dependent on the fluctuations occurring in the climate during these time periods. The climate changes and rates of deposition occurring at Coats-Hines were correlated to similar sites in the region. The Coats-Hines site was surveyed along the wet-weather drainage that bounds the site during in the spring of 2013. A channel unconformity was discovered, likely dating to the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and providing context to the 1994/1995 excavation.

A detailed morphological description of a proboscidean manus from the Gray Fossil Site (GFS), Gray, Tennessee is provided. Manus elements from an American mastodon (Mammut americanum), a Britt’s shovel-tusker (Amebelodon britti), an undescribed small gomphothere species, and a Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) are used for comparisons. Linear measurements indicate proportional differences between the GFS mastodon and other proboscidean taxa ranging from the Hemphillian to Rancholabrean land mammal ages. Possible pathologies are also described. The purpose of this study is to determine how the GFS mastodon differs in manus morphology and locomotion from different proboscidean taxa, including size, environmental, evolutionary, and taxonomic factors. Morphological differences are more pronounced in carpals and metacarpals in regard to shape, size, and orientation of articular surfaces but are not statistically compared due to the small sample size.

Mastodons (family Mammutidae) are widespread and abundant in of Pleistocene faunas across North America, exhibiting considerable variation in morphology over their broad geographic and temporal range. Mandibular tusks are a notably variable feature among mastodons; these tusks vary in size and shape, and many mastodons lack them entirely, or possess only one. Patterns in mandibular tusk distribution could potentially indicate important selective controls on different populations. Various hypotheses have been proposed to explain the distribution of mastodon mandibular tusks, attributing their presence to geographic, temporal, and sexual variation, but there have been no analyses investigating whether there is statistical support for patterns of mandibular tusk distribution. We analyze a dataset of more than 100 mastodons from throughout North America. Mandibles were coded for the presence/absence of mandibular tusks. These data were used to test whether tusk presence was related to geographic or chronological patterns. The most statistically-significant differences were recorded between interglacial- and late glacial-interval mastodons. Interglacial mastodons had mean differences of 0.958 and 0.827 from last glacial maximum and post-last glacial maximum mastodons, respectively, with essentially 0 p-values for both. Though this study is preliminary and uses simple statistical tests, it shows that patterns do exist in the presence of mandibular tusks among mastodons, and that this variability warrants further investigation, particularly with regards to differences in paleoenvironment and paleoecology between interglacial and glacial mastodons that may be responsible for their apparent differences in mandibular tusk presence.

No description available.

The rapid growth of centralised social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook has raised concerns about privacy and the concentration of power held by the companies behind these services. In response, decentralised social media platforms have emerged as alternatives, forming federations of various instances without a single owner. However, these decentralised platforms have faced challenges with centralisation, as users tend to gather on larger instances. This paper examines Mastodon, one of the most popular decentralised platforms, to explore whether its onboarding flow and website design can be modified to encourage less centralisation. The study maps Mastodon's onboarding flow and identifies potential modifications to mitigate centralisation. Additionally, a new design for the official website is proposed. User tests involving five participants were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of these changes. The results indicate that modifying the design can influence users to choose smaller servers. One effective modification is randomising the order in which servers are presented, eliminating the advantage of larger servers. Another proposed change is to improve user awareness about how feeds and interactions on Mastodon spans servers, enabling users to interact beyond their own server and removing a motivation for choosing a larger one. But the impact of this information on user behaviour remains inconclusive in the user tests. Overall, this research suggests that through design modifications, Mastodon can encourage users to select smaller servers and foster a more decentralised social media environment. / Den snabba tillväxten av centraliserade sociala medieplattformar som Twitter och Facebook har väckt oro över personlig integritet och koncentrationen av makt hos företagen bakom dessa tjänster. Som svar har decentraliserade sociala medieplattformar dykt upp, där plattformen består av en federation av olika instanser utan en enda ägare. Dessa decentraliserade plattformar har dock stött på utmaningar med centralisering eftersom användare tenderar att samlas på större instanser. Den här rapporten undersöker Mastodon, en av de mest populära decentraliserade plattformarna, för att undersöka om dess onboardingflöde och designen av deras webbplats kan modifieras för att uppmuntra mindre centralisering. Studien kartlägger Mastodons nuvarande onboardingflöde och identifierar potentiella ändringar som kan mildra centraliseringen. Dessutom föreslås en ny design för den officiella webbplatsen. Användartester med fem deltagare genomfördes för att utvärdera effektiviteten av dessa förändringar. Resultaten indikerar att den modifierade designen kan påverka användare och få dem att välja mindre servrar. En effektiv förändring är att randomisera ordningen i vilken servrar presenteras, vilket eliminerar fördelen större servrar har i hur synliga de är. En annan föreslagen förändring är att förbättra användarnas medvetenhet om att flöden och interaktioner på Mastodon sträcker sig över servrar, vilket gör det möjligt för användare att interagera utanför sin egen server och tar bort ett av motiven användare har för att välja en större server. Vilken effekt det här har på användarnas beteende när det gäller deras val av server var dock oklart i användartesterna som utfördes. Sammantaget tyder denna undersökning på att Mastodon genom designändringar potentiellt kan uppmuntra användare att välja mindre servrar och främja en mer decentraliserad miljö för sociala media.

No description available.

No description available.