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Preliminary research has shown that sodium pentobarbital (SP), a euthanasia drug, can persist up to 180 days in equine mortality compost piles. This study attempts to expand upon past research by quantifying SP residues in equine mortality compost piles over a longer duration using innovative sampling schemes. Six, 3.7 m 2 plots were used to construct separate compost bins with 3 bins serving as control. Each bin was constructed with 1.2 m high horse panels. The carbonaceous material consisted of wood chips that were added at a depth of 0.46 m creating the base. Twenty-four whiffle balls, pre-filled with wood chips were placed on the center of each pad. Nylon twine was tied to each ball for retrieval. Six horses requiring euthanasia for health reasons as determined by a licensed veterinarian were used for the study. The veterinarian supplied and humanely euthanized each horse. Each horse was sedated by injecting 8 ml of xylazine intravenously. Each of the three treatment horses were then euthanized by injecting 60 ml of SP intravenously. Each of the three control horses were anesthetized by injecting 15 ml of ketamine hydrochloride intravenously and then euthanized by gunshot to the temporal lobe. Immediately following euthanasia, each carcass was placed on the center of the woodchip pad and surrounded with 0.6 m of additional wood chips. Serum and liver samples were immediately obtained while whiffle ball, soil and compost samples were obtained over time. Each sample was analyzed for SP residues. Compost pile and ambient temperatures were also recorded. Preliminary data illustrates SP persistence up to 129 days in compost piles with no clear trend of reduction. Further sampling and analysis will be conducted.

This study explored the impact of fraternity and sorority affiliation on students’ development of intercultural competence over four years of college at 11 institutions. Prior research admonishes fraternities and sororities for being largely heterogeneous organizations that detract from institutional efforts to create a culturally competent student body. In the present study, fraternity and sorority members did not differ from their unaffiliated peers on their development of intercultural competence during college. Implications for higher education and student affairs practice and intercultural competence among fraternity/sorority communities is discussed.

An important objective in monitoring mechanical and other systems is the detection of changes in the underlying dynamics governing system behavior. Statistical change detection (SCD), or change‐point detection, can play a crucial role in the early detection of small changes in mechanical systems. The primary challenge is to detect changes manifest in very small deviations in the statistical behavior of the observations. Statistical change detection algorithms act as novelty detectors, obviating the need to collect examples of all possible fault signature patterns for the purpose of training pattern classifiers. With respect to SCD, the use of nonlinear models can provide useful benefits. In particular, detector performance may be enhanced through the use of more appropriate model structures, such as when processing nonlinear and/or non‐Gaussian data. Second‐order statistics are, in general, adequate when data being fitted are Gaussian. When data are non‐Gaussian, or represent the output of a nonlinear pro...