Objectives:(1) To investigate sex differences in molar wear in known-age Cayo Santiago rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and, (2) To explore sex differences in body weight and molar eruption timing as factors influencing sex differences in molar wear. Materials and methods: Data set I comprises wear scores, ages and body weights of 212 living monkeys included in the 1985 roundup. Data set II consists of molar wear measurements taken on 2D images of 103 of these monkeys' dental remains. Ordinal logistic regression was used to analyze the first data set. General linear models were used to analyze the second.Results: Males generally exhibited more wear than females at equivalent chronological ages, though results varied by tooth type for the second data set. Male body weight in the full 1985 living sample was significantly related to dental wear, when age was taken into account; however, when males less than 8 years of age were eliminated from the sample, the association between dental wear and weight became statistically insignificant. Analysis of the second data set suggested no statistically significant sex difference in dental wear for third molars, despite the approximately 2 year sex difference in eruption age for this tooth type.Discussion: This study suggests that body weight in males might be a predictor of dental wear and that if it is, body weight might also influence sex differences in dental wear. Sex differences in dental eruption timing do not appear to explain sex differences in dental wear in this sample.

In the mid-1990s, Mercer University's undergraduate schools placed incoming freshmen in their first mathematics course, using only their scores on the mathematics portion of the SAT (SATM). This placement policy was strongly supported by the admissions office because it did not require additional testing of the freshmen in their on-campus summer orientation. Realizing that other academic measures such as a student's academic high school GPA (HSGPA) had a major impact on his or her success in college mathematics courses, a new placement measure called the Mathematics Index (MIDX), which is a function of a student's score on the SATM and his or her HSGPA, was developed by the Department of Mathematics in consultation with the Office of Institutional Research in 2002. The MIDX measure was created by considering success rates in calculus and precalculus as functions of HSGPA and SATM, and finding the level curves corresponding to a 60% success rate in precalculus and a 70% success rate in calculus. After this new placement measure had been used for several years, a study was conducted to determine the success of the new policy. This article reports the method used to create the MIDX measure and the results of our study.

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The pterion is located at the infratemporal fossa of the skull. The sutural schemes at pterion are dominated by two patterns, the fronto‐temporal type (FT) in which the frontal and temporal bones are in direct contact (Monkey type), and the spheno‐parietal type (SP) in which the sphenoid bone and parietal bone are in direct contact (Human type). It is hypothesized that the sutural patterns at pterion covary with the relationship between cranial and facial skeletons. Previous investigation of suture patterns at petrion in the Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) from Cayo Santiago, Caribbean Primate Research Center (CPRC), has indicated familial aggregation. Here we further identify a Rhesus family in Cayo Santiago with a nearly 25% incidence of Human type (SP) in their skulls from members of eight generations, housed in the CPRC Laboratory of Primate Morphology and Genetics. In addition, a member of eighth generation had premature fusion of the squamosal suture. The descendents of this matrilineal family, including 169 members of three generations, are still living in Cayo Santiago. Thus, this family will be an excellent model for studying sutural morphology, variation, and inheritance patterns. Sutures are important loci of craniofacial growth. The interactions between them and their surrounding tissues need further investigation to elucidate the ontogeny of craniofacial skeletons. To this end, further studies and long term tracking of this Cayo Santiago Rhesus family may contribute to a variety of disciplines, including genetics, embryology, morphology, pathology, and biomechanics of craniofacial skeletons, and help establish protocols in craniofacial reconstructional medicine. Supported by NIH grant P40 RR003640 to CPRC and NSF BCS‐0725183.

He has been teaching software engineering, database, and programming courses since 2001. Before that, he worked as a software engineer for two years and participated in the development of Web-based applications for clients including Nortel Networks and Bank of America. He received his Ph.D.