Journal articles on the topic 'Complex-shaped pit'

Abaqus finite element software can implement three-dimensional excavation design calculation, so authors used Python of Abaqus core language made the 3D design of foundation pit supporting program come ture and also did intensive study of mesh optimization during the process. Authors also did intensive comparison and analysis about grid division of the complex geometry foundation pit, through a regularization partion about a variety of special-shaped pit, we made the automatic division about the structural grid of all kinds of shapes foundation pit successful. On this basis, we achieved better calculation effects of the model. The article will introduce problems about optimization of grid in procedure.

AbstractAs reported recently by the authors, the third and fourth antennomeres of the antennal club of the bark beetle Dendroctonus vitei Wood (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) possess conoid sensilla clustered inside spherical or bulb-shaped invaginations of the cuticle that resemble geological pit craters. These structures are novel relative to other Dendroctonus Erichson species examined. The morphology and ultrastructure of different sensilla types on the antennal club and within the pit craters of D. vitei are herein described in detail with the aid of light, environmental scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy. Five types of sensilla were found: fluted, basiconica type I, and trichodea types I, II, and III. The pit craters were composed of clusters of multiporous sensilla basiconica arising from the inner surface of the concavities, and the morphology and ultrasructure of these sensilla are consistent with an olfactory function. The presence of pit craters in the D. vitei on the anterior side of the antennal club is an diagnostic character for this species and an autapomorphy of great taxonomic importance within the Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann species complex.

The transportation environment of the open-pit mine is complex, the steering actuator of the mine vehicle has a large delay and poor response accuracy, and there are a lot of bumpy roads, large undulating ramps, and narrow-area curves in the mining area. These road sections seriously reduce the tracking accuracy of the mine vehicle path. Tracking control presents great challenges. Therefore, this study first conducts a simulation comparison study on commonly used path tracking methods such as pure pursuit control, Stanley control, and model predictive control (MPC), and then designs a path tracking control strategy for automatic driving of open-pit mine transportation vehicles based on the MPC algorithm. Finally, the proposed control strategy was verified through actual mining vehicle tests. The results showed that the maximum lateral deviation obtained by the MPC-based path tracking control strategy was reduced from 0.55 m to 0.08 m under the C-shaped reference path compared with the traditional method. Under the S-shaped reference path, the lateral deviation is reduced from 0.4 m to 0.16 m.

Novel observations of changes in pitting morphology of 6060 aluminum alloys immersed for periods of 3 y, 3.5 y, and 4 y in temperate seawater are reported. They indicate that the initiation and propagation of pitting involve several different mechanisms. These result in small (semi-) hemispherical pits, irregular polygonal-shaped larger pits, and also extremely large and deep pits with complex morphologies. Principally intergranular corrosion and crystallographic pitting were observed. It is proposed that the changing nature of the pit morphologies is associated with the accumulated corrosion products and, to a lesser extent, affected by the marine growth attached to the metal surface.

The publication is devoted to the characteristics of the ceramic complex discovered in 2019 in the burial mound 1, located near the village of Kryva (China-Gora tract), Tarashchansky district, Kyiv region. Under a small mound in the grave pit at a depth of about 2 m were three sculpted vessels (the large pot and two smaller) in an inverted position. The large pot is decorated with carved geometric ornaments, painted with white paste. Both pots are tulip-shaped. The most expressive analogies (from the collection of F. F. Kunderevich and the mound 1 1999) look undoubtedly more archaic. According to these analogies, the ceramic complex from the Chinatown tract can be dated to the second half of the 7th century BC. Korchaga from the Chinatown complex is probably later. That is the period of «late geometry», when the decorative traditions of the Jabotins gradually disappear. The middle of the 7th century. BC. is a conditional boundary from which the violation of the tradition of Jabotin geometry in the Black Sea region begins.

During 2011—2017 Trypillian expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of NASU carried out research of the residential-industrial complex «Ceramist’s Family 1» on the trypillian settlement-giant Talyanki (3800 BC, Tomashivskaia locally-chronological version of the culture). This complex was located in the western part of the northern sector of the settlement. Its boundaries determined by gaps in the built-up of a single line of the houses. As a separate structure of the settlement, this complex consisted from five houses, three kilns, a production pit, consisting of several depressions, and two small pits.
 This article is devoted to analysis of ceramic items that are usually associated with ritual and ceremonial activities and foundon the territory of the designated complex, primarily their planigraphic distribution. The collection consists of 67 items and includes 17 anthropomorphic and 9 zoomorphic figurines, 2 models of dwellings, 18 models of sledges, 4 models of vessels, 6 small geometric objects (balls, cones, chips), 3 ceramic ornaments and 8 small relief pieces that are not part of ceramic vessels. Most of the items found in the pit (46 items), a smaller number of them are associated with the residential sector of the complex (20 items) and only half of them (12 items) originate directly from houses, the rest are distributed in the adjacent territory within a radius of 1—4 m from residential buildings. Only one item found in the kiln «D».
 The vast majority of «terracotta» items are fragmented. Its disposal, like the ceramic dishes, went the same way — the debris taken out of the houses. Most of them fell into the pits; a smaller part of the ceramic broken used as a building material for the construction of kilns. Overall, the ratio of vessels fragments and fragments of «terracotta» items at different objects of the complex is close. Therefore, for 20 units of «terracotta» items found in houses and the adjacent territory, there are about 11 thousand ceramic fragments of vessels. Forty-six of «terracotta» items from the big pit oppose for about 13 thousand of ceramic fragments of dishes. Only one fragment of the sledge model comes directly from the kiln construction. Unique «terracotta» items, high quality wares, did not lose their importance, probably even after the breakdown. They either put in special places or disposed of in a special way. Thus, entire models of sledges was found on the podium in house 47, and a model of a uniquely shaped found in the lowest ash layer in one of the depressions of the large pit near the kiln «D». In rare cases, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines founded in the deepest parts of the pit.
 The difference in the technical and technological characteristics of various «terracotta» items may indicate that the need to make sculptures sometimes arose spontaneously and was far from always associated with the specialized work of the kiln. We assume the likelihood of a wide range of participants in the «terracotta» making process, in which, in addition to potters, there could be «non-professionals» — children, apprentice, etc.

Kagarlinsk copper deposits have been worked out since IV millennium BC and till the end of II millennium BC in the steppes of the South Urals and a huge amount of copper have been recovered from their ores in the Bronze Age. Geophysical studies have been conducted in the south periphery of the Kagarlinsk ore field not far from Belousovka village at the mining-processing complex with the length of 900—1000 m and 30—70 m size across. Something like a hundred of small open-cut mines from 3 to 12 m in diameter are fixed in this area with near side mine dumps, sites for assortment of extracted ore adjoined at stove pits 3—5 m in diameter for burning up lump ores. Thorough topographic, gradient magnetic and geo-radar surveys have been fulfilled in areas where typical objects: open-cut mine, a pit for pilot burning up ores, slime sites and ore store are situated. As a result new data have been obtained on the structure of ancient outputs and associated technological facilities. Numerous magnetic anomalies revealed near the open-cut mine and a pit testify that copper ore encloses sufficient amount of iron and pilot assortment of the burned up ore took place near the pits. According to the results of geo-radar survey special features of pit-stove have been reconstructed and 3D model of the ancient open-cut mine built. A pit for burning up ore was cone-shaped with steps for comfort of loading and unloading ore. Its bottom diameter was 5m, the principal mine was 1—1.5 m in diameter and depth rough 3 m, the volume of the pit did not exceed 13—15 m3. Transversal size of a mine was 7—9 m and the depth was up to 4 m. The open-cut mine had steep sides from the north, east and south and in the west the relief was mildly sloping. The entrance to the open-cut mine was from the west. Initial depth of the open-cut mine differed from the present day surface by 2—3 m. According to our appraisal the amount of extracted ore in this mine was 25—30 tons. Taking into account the overall number of mines some 2—2.5 thousand tons of bulk ore were extracted during operation of Belousovka mining-metallurgical complex.

Coated pits contain a resident membrane molecule(s) that binds clathrin AP-2 with high affinity. AP-2 binding to this site is likely to be the first step in coated pit assembly because this subunit functions as a template for the polymerization of clathrin into flat polygonal lattices. Integral membrane proteins involved in receptor mediated endocytosis cluster in the newly assembled pits as they invaginate and bud from the membrane. The AP-2 subunit is a multi-domain, molecular complex that can be separated by proteolysis into a brick-shaped core and ear-like appendage domains. We have used this property to identify the domain involved in the various stages of coated pit assembly and budding. We found that the core of AP-2 is the domain that binds both to membranes and to triskelions during assembly. Triskelions are perfectly capable of forming lattices on the membrane bound cores. Clathrin lattices bound only to core domains were also able to invaginate normally. Limited proteolysis was also useful for further characterizing the AP-2 binding site. Elastase treatment of the inside membrane surface released a peptide fraction that is able to bind AP-2 in solution and prevent it from interacting with membranes. Affinity purification of binding activity yielded a collection of peptides that was dominated by a 45-kD species. This is the candidate peptide for containing the AP-2-binding site. Therefore, the appendage domain does not directly participate in any of the assembly or invagination events required for coated pit function.

The paper publishes materials obtained during the study of Scythian barrow 4 of the Sluiceway group on the left bank of the Lower Dniester in 2016. The main burial, almost completely robbed in antiquity, was surrounded by a ring ditch with two ruptures - in the northwest and southeast. At the western extremity of the northern arch of the ditch a horses skull was found. Secondary burial of the barrow remained undisturbed. It was done in an oblong pit. Such constructions have not been fixed in the Danube-Dniester steppes so far, except for a pit of similar proportions, excavated in the barrow 5 of the same cemetery as the published complex. The analysis of the funeral rite and a few preserved inventories demonstrates that both burials belonged to ordinary members of the Scythian community. At the same time, the gold holder and bronze earring from the secondary burial have practically no analogies in the Scythian complexes of the steppes of the North-Western Black Sea Region. A nail-shaped earring from the secondary grave testifies to the cultural impulse from the population of the Middle Dniester Region (forest-steppe), reflected in the finery of the Scythians on the left bank of the Lower Dniester in the second half of the 4th century BC.

Abstract We study analytically and numerically the design of plasmonic demultiplexers based on Fano and plasmonic induced transparency (PIT) resonances. The demultiplexers consist of T-shaped structures with an input waveguide and two output waveguides. Each output contains two waveguide stubs grafted either at the same position or at two different positions far from the input waveguide. We derive closed form analytical expressions of the geometrical parameters allowing a selective transfer of a single mode in one waveguide without affecting the other one. This is performed by implementing the Fano and PIT resonances which are characterized by a resonance placed near an antiresonance or placed between two antiresonances respectively. In particular, we show the possibility of trapped modes, also called bound in continuum (BIC) modes. These modes appear as resonances with zero width in the transmission spectra for appropriate lengths of the stubs. Then, by detuning slightly the stubs, BICs transform to PIT or Fano resonances. The existence of a full transmission besides a transmission zero, enables to filter a given wavelength on one output waveguide, by vanishing both the transmission on the second waveguide as well as the reflection in the input waveguide. The demultiplexer is capable to separate two fundamental optical windows (i.e. 1310 and 1550 nm). The performance of the demultiplexer platform is measured using the crosstalk of the two outputs and quality factor. The lowest value of the crosstalk −96.8 dB with an average of −84.7 dB is achieved and a maximum quality factor 45 is obtained. The maximum transmission reaches a high value of 85% despite the large metallic losses. These values are suitable for integrated photonic circuits in the optical communication. The analytical results are obtained by means of the Green’s function method which enables us to deduce the transmission and reflection coefficients, as well as the delay times and density of states. These results are confirmed by numerical simulations using a 2D finite element method. The analytical analysis developed in this work represent a predictive method to understand deeply different physical phenomena in more complex plasmonic devices.

From 1946 to 1952. excavations were undertaken in advance of destruction by gravel workings of a series of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age monuments at Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxon. These included a long enclosure, a cursus, a double ditched henge, pit circles and ring ditches with primary and secondary cremation burials and a notable Beaker burial. Sites I, II, IV, V and VI, all pit circles or ring ditches, were published in 1951. This report describes sites III, VIII, IX, XI, XII, XIII and XIV. By the early 1950s much of the Neolithic complex had been quarried for gravel, and other adjacent areas subsequently were dug away. In 1981 the construction of a bypass led to the excavation of further surviving parts of the complex: site 1, a long D-shaped enclosure incorporated in the southern end of the cursus, and sites 2, 3 and 4.Both sets of sites are presented together, largely following the chronological scheme proposed for the complex by Bradley and Chambers (1988). Site VIII and site 1 are long enclosures of Earlier Neolithic date, with human remains. The latter site has a calibrated date of 3773–3378 BC. Site III is a cursus at least 1600 m long which cuts site VIII and incorporates site 1. A date of 3360–3040 BC was obtained from the primary fill of its ditch. Site XI is a three-phase ring ditch, perhaps successive enlargements of a barrow, but its innermost ditch is cut by a pit circle with cremations. There are Ebbsfleet sherds in the outermost ditch, and dates of 3037–2788 and 3024–2908 BC from the innermost, perhaps primary, ditch. Site XIV is a ring ditch succeeded by the Big Rings henge. Site 3 is a post circle between the ditches of the southern part of the cursus, with some secondary cremations. It has dates from the outer wood of its posts of 2890–2499, 2886–2491 and 2872–2470 BC; dates on charcoal associated with secondary cremations were 2880–2470, 2870–2460 and 2123–1740 BC. Site 2 is a penannular ring ditch with a primary date of 2912–2705 BC, and secondary cremations. Site XII is a notable Beaker burial within a two-phase ring ditch. An adult man was laid crouched on a bier and was accompanied by a fine W/MR beaker, a stone bracer, a tanged copper knife and a small riveted knife with at least one rivet of tin bronze. Traces of a stretcher-like feature were found in an adjacent pit which cuts the inner ring ditch. Site XIII, the Big Rings, is a large double ditched enclosure with central bank and opposed entrances. There was Beaker pottery in the primary fill of the inner ditch, but very little material was found in either ditch, and there were minimal features in the interior, part of which was stripped. Site 4 consists of two conjoined ring ditches within the southern end of the cursus. It encloses cremation burials. One, accompanied by an awl and Collared Urn, has a date of 2290–1910 BC. Traces of a ditched field system (originally referred to as a droveway, site IX) of later Bronze Age date were found cutting sites III, VIII and XIII, and paired ditches on site 1 may be related.The complex is related to its local and regional context, and the sequence of development is discussed. A timescale measured in generations is advocated, with phases of continuity and episodes of little activity both represented. Several aspects of monuments are considered: their differing scales including the monumental, their ability to endure and create tradition, and finally the choice of designs, from the locally customary to the exotic.

The antennal flagellum of the female sphinx moth, Manduca sexta, bears eight types of sensilla: two trichoid, two basiconic, one auriculate, two coeloconic, and one styliform complex. We previously described the fine structure of the trichoid and basiconic sensilla (Shields and Hildebrand 1999). In this paper, we describe one type of auriculate, two types of coeloconic, and one type of styliform complex sensilla. The auriculate (ear- or spoon-shaped) sensillum is a small peg that averages 4 µm in length, is innervated by two bipolar sensory cells, and has structural features characteristic of an insect olfactory sensillum. Each of the two types of coeloconic sensilla is a small peg that averages 2 µm in length and is recessed in a cuticular pit. One type of coeloconic sensillum is innervated by five bipolar sensory cells and has structural features characteristic of an insect olfactory sensillum or olfactory-thermosensillum, while the other is innervated by three bipolar sensory cells and has structural features characteristic of an insect thermo-hygrosensillum. The styliform complex sensillum is a large peg that averages 38-40 µm in length and is formed by several contiguous sensilla, the number of which depends on the location of the peg on the flagellum. Each unit of the styliform complex sensillum is innervated by three bipolar sensory cells and has structural features characteristic of a thermo-hygrosensillum. We also ascertained the number and distribution of each of the eight types of sensilla on a single flagellomere (annulus) about midway along the flagellum of a female antenna. A total of 2216 sensilla were found on the dorsal, ventral, and leading surfaces of that annulus.

Personal income tax (hereinafter referred to as PIT) has a short history, as it appeared in tax systems of EU countries as late as at the end of the 18th century. As a specific universal structure it performs two economic functions: providing financial means for covering some public expenses (fiscal function), leveling inequalities – through its structure – in population incomes (a redistribution function). It also implements social functions of taxation through various tax reliefs and exemptions or the structure of the tax scale. Contemporary personal income tax in European countries has been shaped by many years of evolution. This proces is continuing, taking into account the process of European integration and the processes of standardizing and harmonizing tax systems in European Union countries. Most EU states only sporadically implement major reforms of personal income taxation. The scope of such changes is usually limited and determined by current fiscal needs or the need to stimulate a particular behavior of taxpayers. The current taxation of personal incomes is a very complex phenomenon which should be analyzed not only from the legal point of view, but also taking into account its social, cultural, economic and political system aspects.

The paper publishes the results of a study of complex B of Pezmogty 3 site. The author has studied traces and remains of a depressed small dwelling with an excavation area of 81 m. The spatial distribution of artefacts, faunal remains and their association with deposits of different genesis have been analysed. It is defined that the studied structure was rounded in the plan, 3,03,5 m in diameter, 79,5 m in area, and, probably, a cone-shaped roof. The assemblage contains stone objects, fragments of ceramic ware and indeterminable items, fragments of calcified bones. The morphology of the flint arrowheads; the signs of secondary bifacial thinning technology; the ceramic pots, made of clay with an admixture of silt and decorated with a comb-pit ornament, allow us to attribute these materials to the Lyalovo culture in the European North-East and date them to the first half of the V millennium B.C. Until now, the most informative data for the study of this culture in north-eastern Europe were the remains of medium and large dwellings with an area of 26 to 100 m, so the published materials expand our understanding of the way of life and house-building traditions of the Middle Neolithic people of this region.

The Trypillia settlement of Chychyrkozivka is located on a plateau of the right bank of the Shpolka river. Its borders are shaped by the creek from the west and Chychyrkoza river valley from the east.
 The settlement was discovered in 1904 by A. L. Dolynskyi. Small-scale excavations here were conducted by M. O. Makarenko in 1928. Widely known collection of surface materials comes from surveys of I. P. Girnyk. Air-photogrammetry of K. V. Shyshkin have shown that the structure of this settlement, which reached a size of nearly 250 ha, included ovals, semi-arcs and short parallel lines of the houses in the center. Excavations at this site directed by V. O. Kruts were conducted in 1984 by the Trypillia expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Ploschadka composed of several layers of burned daub, clay installation and pit were investigated. The house is reconstructed as wattle-and-daub dwelling with the first floor (soil surface), massive floor of the second storey (clay with organic admixture covered the wooden frame) and the floor of the ceiling.
 Pottery is represented by kitchen, storage and table vessels. Table ceramics is decorated with black monochromic painting. The main forms are the bowls, goblets, biconical vessels, pear-shaped vessels, amphorae, craters, pots and binocular-shaped vessels. The main ornamentation schemes are the comet-shaped, metopic, tangent, meandr-line, volute, scalloped and simplified-line schemes. The relatively high percentage of the meander-line scheme should be admitted.
 Analysis of the data makes possible to date this site to the second phase of Tomashivka local group of Western Trypillia culture, BIII stage.
 Along with the excavations of Trypillia objects, the kurgan of a diameter reaching c. 30 m and elevation of 0.8 m was excavated. The cenotaph-grave containing the vessel, which was broken in the remote past, and the collective burial of three people covered by the wooden construction and a layer of grass were investigated in the kurgan. The «central» and the «western» buried individuals (grave 1) were placed on their back. Legs were bent at the knees. The «eastern» buried (juvenile) was placed on his right side. Legs were pursed, and the left hand was stretched. The buried people were placed on mats. Also a layer of a brown color, the remains of ochre and chalk, as well as the fragments of charcoal near the legs, were traced. The grey-clay vessel discovered in the collective grave and the pot from cenotaph had an egg-shaped form. Their bottoms were slightly flattened, while the rims were turned outside. Flint flake and bone puncture were also found in the kurgan.
 Burials of the Middle Dnipro group of Yamna cultural complex are also known at other Trypillia mega-sites, including Maidanetske, Talianky and Dobrovody. Considering the fact that Chychyrkozivka is referred to the second phase of Tomashivka local group, the duration of a hiatus between the Trypillia settlement and Yamna burials could be estimated at c. 600—700 years.
 Yamna burials were spread between the Danube and Dnipro along with the lost of identity of Cucuteni-Trypillia population and the decline of this cultural complex.

The morphological structure of the profiles of two vertisols on microelevations of the gilgai complex of the Bolshoi liman (Svetloyarsk district of the Volgograd region) was studied. Despite the same microrelief position and equal relative heights of microelevations, morphological differences in the profiles at the subtype level were revealed. In one of the profiles, due to the higher humidity, the signs of vertisol genesis were less pronounced. Whereas in the second, more pronounced signs of vertic processes were described – slickensides with 15–30 cm length, smaller slickensides up to 10 cm, wedge-shaped aggregates. The proportion of the clay fraction in the mixed horizons, obtained by the Gorbunov method, was 45– 52%. Analysis of the qualitative mineralogical composition of the clay (<1μm) fractions showed that the smectite phase is represented mainly by disordered and mixed-layered smectite-illite formations. Individual illite belongs to the biotite variety according to the filling of the octahedral layer. Analysis of the ratio of the main mineral phases showed the predominance of illite (53–87%) in all soil samples. In the first pit an increase in the proportion of the smectite component with depth (from 1 to 35%) is noted. In the second pit, there are no regularities in the distribution of mineral phases (fluctuations within 24–37%), which may be associated with the involvement of chocolate clays layers in the profile during soil formation. Mineralogical analysis of chocolate clays (parent rocks) showed their high heterogeneity depending on the depth of the studied layer. No correlation was found between the severity of the signs of vertic processes and the proportion of the swelling component. Illustration of the stages of the formation of the soil cover on the investigated plot of the liman is given. The main reasons that led to the formation of different soils on microelevations are the unevenness of the “squeezing out” of soil blocks upward in the process of microrelief formation in combination with local erosion.

Excavation in Area 1 identified an enclosed settlement of Middle–Late Iron Age and Early Roman date, which included a roundhouse gully and deep storage pits with complex fills. A group of undated four-post structures, situated in the east of Area 1, appeared to represent a specialised area of storage or crop processing of probable Middle Iron Age date. A sequence of re-cutting and reorganisation of ditches and boundaries in the Late Iron Age/Early Roman period was followed, possibly after a considerable hiatus, by a phase of later Roman activity, Late Iron Age reorganisation appeared to be associated with the abandonment of a roundhouse, and a number of structured pit deposits may also relate to this period of change. Seven Late Iron Age cremation burials were associated with a contemporary boundary ditch which crossed Area 1. Two partly-exposed, L-shaped ditches may represent a later Roman phase of enclosed settlement and a slight shift in settlement focus. An isolated inhumation burial within the northern margins of Area 1 was tentatively dated by grave goods to the Early Saxon period.<br/> Area 2 contained a possible trackway and field boundary ditches, of which one was of confirmed Late Iron Age/Early Roman date. A short posthole alignment in Area 2 was undated, and may be an earlier prehistoric feature.

Burial ground near Zalomy Znamensky district of the Kirovograd region was discovered in 1985. The place is located in the area between the rivers Irkley and Tsybulnik, belonging to the basin of Tiasmin — in the borderland of the Right-bank forest-steppe and steppe. In 1986, along with burial ground the simultaneous Scythian settlement was discovered. During 1986—1989, burial excavations were conducted by archaeological expedition of then Kirovograd State Pedagogical Institute. There were 98 excavated burials from the necropolis. The investigated Scythian burial belong to the VI—IV century BC. Thus, a burial ground and settlement constitutes the integral archaeological complex.
 Unfortunately, most of the Scythian burials were robbed in antiquity, and therefore — the burial inventory of the necropolis is not numerous.
 Burial No. 82 was carried out in a common ground pit and was not plundered. Among the discovered things of farewell inventory of special interest is a rare set of decorations from corals. Next to them were also found gold amphor-shaped pendants and bronze clasps. Most likely in ancient times, decorations were part of one necklace. In addition, in the burial were found beads, amber and glass beads, miniature molded vessel. The materials of the burial allow one to date his IV century BC. It should be assumed that the person buried here had a special social status among the local population in Scythian times.

Abstract Mining belongs to the types of human activity that have a significant impact on the environment, and especially on the landscape. The main objective of this study is a quantitative diagnosis of the dynamics of land use changes and landscape pattern modification in areas shaped under the influence of processes related to the open pit exploitation of lignite. The study was carried out in the Adamów-Koźmin Lignite Basin, which is a model example of an area affected by strong anthropogenic pressure. An assessment of changes was carried out using a set of maps depicting land use in the period preceding the exploitation of lignite (the year 1940) and after over 60 years of the mining activity in this area (as of 2011). The source materials for mapping for the first period were archival maps and for the second period, an orthophotomap. The heads-up digitising method was used to determine 7 types of land-cover classes according to the definitions of Corine Land Cover. Ten landscape metrics for five categories of landscape features (surface, shape, neighbourhood, edge, spatial distribution and diversity) were used in the landscape pattern analysis. The results do not confirm the hypothesis of a significant landscape simplification after reclamation. The shape of patches in the landscape was more complex and the number of land-use types was higher, which combined with their spatial arrangement, caused the landscape pattern to be more diversified in the year 2011.

Shortepe situated near Shatirli village of Barda in Garabagh region of Azerbaijan Republic. Archaeological excavations gave us an opportunity to research antique and early medieval period of the city. Shortepe is one of the biggest antique and early medieval settlements of Azerbaijan. The settlement situated near Shatirli village in Barda region. There situated Bronze Age settlement Balatepe which were one of the important centers of Kura-Araxes (proto-albanians) tribes, Bronze Age kurgans and Shortepe archaeological complex in Shatirli village. As a result of the research, four cultural strata were discovered. The first layer belongs to the Kur-Araz culture. In this layer, hearth-shaped and horseshoe-shaped hearths were found. In the second layer, painted and simple vessels typical of the Middle Bronze Age were found, and in the third layer, stone box-type tombs and long-necked clay vessels were found. The fourth layer is located at a depth of 0.3-0.9 m. Earthen graves belonging to children and the elderly were found in this layer. There are considerable information about Barda city and a region where it is situated in the works of authors of Antic and Early Middle Ages. Archeologists C.Morqan, N.Silosani, İ.Babayev, R.Goyushov, A.Nuriyev, H.Jafarov, F.Osmanov, A.Mammadov, M.Huseynov had been researched in Barda. According to professor A.M.Mammadov, Shortepe monument is remains of ancient Barda that called “Harum” in the works of Nizami Ganjavi. The article was dedicated to antique and early medieval fortified settlement Shortepe, which researchers prove that the settlement was an ancient Barda town. We can localize it with Anariaka antique Caucasian Albanian settlement. Archaeological excavations were continued in 2006-2016 years regularly. Archaeological excavations had been led in Shortepe in 2014. Scientific researches had been continued in the size of 10x10 m and the area had been divided 4 square. In the result of the archaeological excavations has been got the material examples which dedicated to the antique and early medieval period. In 2015 year archaeological excavations continued. Fortified part of settlement and pit graves was unearthed during digs. Scientific investigations show that Shortepe was ancient city of Garabagh region of Azerbaijan.

In recent years, the phenomenon of pits with special deposits, i.e. ritual pits, seems to have, once again, attracted attention both in Europe and in the Balkans. In the central Balkans, scientific literature related to this topic is still deficient, hence one of the objectives of this paper is to change the current state and rekindle interest in the study of this form of manifestation of the spiritual culture of prehistoric man. It appears that one of the oldest reasons for sacrificial offerings is primal, instinctive fear. The fear of the transience of life or of death compelled our ancient ancestors to make some sort of ?agreement? with the surrounding forces, bestowing particular sacrifices onto them. Sacrifice represents one of the rituals of prehistoric communities which could have been performed in a number of ways and in different circumstances. One of these are offerings placed in pits, in the form of specific objects, food, drink or living beings sacrificed to higher powers and accompanied by certain symbolic actions, for the purpose of gaining their favour or help. When interpreting pits, what should further be considered is that the fundamental difference between a discarded object and an object used for a ritual purpose lies in the fact that the object of ritual character is still meaningful to man, performing a symbolic function, unlike the former, whose role is lost after being disposed of. Aritual object, an item or a living being sacrificed in a pit, is no longer of common, worldly significance (food, drink, tools, etc.), but rather possesses a symbolic, sacral meaning, intended for higher powers, to propitiate and appease them, that is to create some form of the oldest religious communication. Not only is it difficult to identify the pits used for ritual purposes in the course of fieldwork, but it is even more challenging to interpret them and practically impossible to accurately reconstruct the actions performed during the rituals. Many authors who concern themselves with this topic concur that the context of a pit and the objects within it, the choice of offerings and their symbolism, along with the pit?s stratigraphy and other patterns observed in it, are in fact the features that make it distinct, i.e. ritual. Similar pits are known throughout history and their descriptions can be found in ancient written sources, as well as identified in the field, with certain differences, stretching back all the way into deep prehistory. This paper presents several newly discovered ritual pits in the central Balkans from the Eneolithic, Bronze and Iron Age, and additionally mentions some of the previously published pits from the area and its near and more distant surroundings. In the course of recent investigations conducted at the site of Bubanj, two ritual pits were recorded in the Early Eneolithic horizon of the Bubanj-Hum I culture. Next to the first, shallower (up to 0.2 m), oval shaped pit, of around 2.5 m long and 1.7 m wide, an oven was noted, while the pit was filled with whole vessels, parts of grindstones, chipped and polished stone tools, baked clay, animal bones, etc. (Figs. 1, 2; Pl. I). Two smaller hollows were noted in the northern part of the pit, while several postholes, which might have supported some kind of roof or shelter construction, were detected somewhat deeper in the subsoil, around the oven and the pit. Below this pit, a smaller one was noted, around 0.7 m deep and with a base diameter of about 1.2 m, filled with yellow, sandy, refined soil. The bottom of the pit was dug to the level of the subsoil and levelled. The second ritual pit from Bubanj was considerably deeper (around 1.5 m) and approximately 1.7 m in diameter, with baked walls and filled with red ashy soil. It contained fragmented or whole vessels, chipped stone tools, a part of an altar, an air nozzle (tuy?res), a polished stone axe, tools made of horn, a fragment of a grindstone, pebbles, house daub and animal bones (Fig. 3; Pl. II). Part of the inventory had been burnt, particularly in the lower section of the pit. This paper also mentions the Late Eneolithic pit from Vinca, containing eight whole vessels in an inverted position (Fig. 4; Pl. III), as well as the Bronze Age complexes from Kokino Selo and Pelince, in northern Macedonia (Figs. 5, 6), comprising several dozen pits, commonly with a broken stone construction, in which whole vessels, along with tools made from chipped and polished stone, baked clay or bone and large amounts of daub were discovered. In the Iron Age, the number of ritual pits significantly increased in all of Europe and, from this period, two pits from the area surrounding Vranje are presented - one with mixed contents (the skulls, without the lower jaw, of at least six male wild boars, as well as the skulls, lower jaws, right pelvic bones and shoulder blades of at least six deer, along with parts of grindstones, pottery and daub fragments and a chipped stone tool) and the other with a complete skeleton of a young female horse, a baked clay weight and chipped stone flaking debris (Figs. 7, 8; Pl. IV).1 The pits were dated, by means of conventional C14 dating, to the period from the mid-6th to the mid-4th century BC.2 By comparing and analysing a large number of pits from the central Balkans and the neighbouring areas, it was observed that ritual pits, as a form of an ancient, primitive religiosity, had already emerged in the Palaeolithic and endured in Europe throughout the entire prehistory, despite various natural and social changes that occurred during this extended period. The pits proved to have been located both outside inhabited areas, as well as in settlements (even under houses), either individually or clustered, and in some cases also constituting entire complexes, with protective architecture in the form of a roof or a shelter (Bubanj, Ohoden). The surface areas occupied by the complexes, along with the dimensions and shapes of the pits, the stratigraphy of their contents, their architecture and many other elements vary considerably, even within a single complex. It is for this reason that it is not possible, at this moment in time, at least without very detailed and comprehensive analysis, to discern some regularities or patterns which could, with any certainty, be considered reliable. This primeval custom, therefore, cannot be linked to any particular period, culture or region, but was entirely dependent on the state or level of the spiritual consciousness of an individual or a community. This religious idea started to decline during the Roman domination and vanished entirely at the time of Christianity.

To solve a number of problems in the ancient history of not only Kazakhstan, but also the adjacent regions, it is extremely important to study the sites of the period of transition from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. The range of such sites includes the settlement of Dongal, located 208 km southeast of the city of Karaganda (Karkaralinsky district, Karaganda region), which was explored by an archaeological expedition of the Karagandy University of the name academician E.A. Buketov. Excavations have revealed the preserved lower parts of the walls of the dwellings, formed by horizontal laying of flat stones. Due to this, it was established that the dwellings had a rectangular shape, the walls were lined with stone slabs from the inside. In the center of each building was a hearth, which was a pit surrounded by stone blocks along the perimeter. Utility and pillar pits were located on the floor. The entrances to the dwellings were in the form of an L-shaped corridor. The discovered inventory includes various stone (pestles, graters, polishers, scrapers), bone (scutchers) and bronze (rivets, a fragment of a knife) tools. An archaeozoological analysis of the found animal bones showed that horse breeding was the leading branch of the economy of the inhabitants of the settlement. In the second place was the breeding of cattle, in the third — sheep breeding. Ceramics and the inventory of the settlement have analogies in the settlements of the Sargary-Alekseevsk culture of the Late Bronze Age. At the same time, the essential distinctive features of housebuilding and the ceramic complex allowed the author to single out sites like Dongal into a special type related to the common steppe cultures during the transition from the Final Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. It is possible that it is on the basis of this community thatthe cultures of the Scythian-Saka world develop.

Archaeological excavations of the Gelot burial ground were carried out in Southern Tajikistan in the vicinity of the city of Kulyab on the loess hills adjacent to the village of Gelot. In one of the excavations, a rich grave was discovered, i. e. burial No. 2. This is a catacomb-type burial with an entrance pit and a chamber where there was a skeleton of a woman in a crouched position with a rich accompanying inventory. The most remarkable find in this grave was a stone figurine of a man of indeterminate gender, which probably depicts a man. It was found under the heel bone of the skeleton’s right foot. Spectral analysis showed that the statuette is made of soft white stone, a kind of gypsum. The weight of the figure is 555 gr, its height is 13.2 cm, and its shoulder width is 8.2 cm. The finds of the grave No. 2 burial complex in Gelot date back to the Sapalli-Dzarkutan stage of the Sapalli culture and date back to the end of the 3rd millennium BC. The figurines from burial No. 2 in Gelot, unlike the ceramic material, do not find direct analogies in the Bactrian-Margian complexes. According to the style of execution, this figurine can be compared with the Mesopotamian plastic of the Early Dynastic period: broad shoulders, widely spaced arms, an image of a face with “smiling lips” and large almond-shaped eyes. The Gelot figurine, in addition to the above parallels with Mesopotamian sculpture, has a certain similarity in Bactrian and Margian plastic. This is a subtle modeling of the eyes, the auricle, and the hairstyle — the hair is laid with a roller on the back of the head. This hairstyle is typical for Bactrian composite figurines. Another line of parallels of the Gelot statuette can be drawn with Eastern Iran — Shahdad (Necropolis A). Characteristic of sculptures sculpted under the influence of Mesopotamian plastics are: broad shoulders and widely spaced arms. They are folded on the chest or on the belt. It is these elements in the image of the torso of the statues that brings the Gelot statuette closer to the Shahdad. The Gelot statuette was made from local stone in Bactria under the influence of Southeastern Iran. The discovery of the stone statuette from Gelot once again confirms P. Amiet’s opinion about a certain influence of Elam (“the second Sumer”) on the formation of the Bactrian civilization [Amiet, 1989, p. 135].

A V-shaped ligand Bis(2-benzimidazolymethyl)amine (bba) and its nickel(II) picrate (pic) complex, with composition [Ni(bba)2](pic)2⋅3MeOH, have been synthesized and characterized on the basis of elemental analyses, molar conductivities, IR spectra, and UV/vis measurements. In the complex, the Ni(II) ion is six-coordinated with a N2O4ligand set, resulting in a distorted octahedron coordination geometry. In addition, the DNA-binding properties of the Ni(II) complex have been investigated by electronic absorption, fluorescence, and viscosity measurements. The experimental results suggest that the nickel(II) complex binds to DNA by partial intercalation binding mode.

A novel complex of nickel(II) picrate (pic) with the V-shaped ligand 2, 6-bis(2-benzimidazolyl) pyridine (bbp) was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, electrical conductivity, and IR and UV/Vis spectral measurements. The crystal structure of the nickel(II) complex ([Ni(bbp)2](pic)2·2DMF) has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The Ni(II) cation is bonded to two bbp ligands through six nitrogen atoms, resulting in a distorted octahedral geometry. The DNA-binding properties of the nickel(II) complex were investigated by electronic absorption and fluorescence spectra and by viscosity measurements. The experimental results suggest that the nickel(II) complex binds to DNA in an intercalation mode.

A novel complex of cadmium (II) picrate (pic) with V-shaped ligand bis(N-allylbenzimidazol-2-ylmethyl)benzylamine (babb), with composition [Cd(babb)2](pic)2, was synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses and electrical conductivity, IR, and UV/visible spectra. The crystal structure of the complex has been determined by the single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In the complex, the coordination sphere around Cd (II) is distorted octahedral, six nitrogen atoms involved in coordination afforded by two tridentate ligand babb. Moreover, The DNA-binding properties of the ligand babb and Cd (II) complex were investigated by spectrophotometric methods and viscosity measurements, and the results suggest that they bind to DNA via an intercalation binding mode, and the Cd (II) complex shows higher affinity than the ligand.

ABSTRACTA new aquatic crustacean is described from the Early Devonian Rhynie chert. The small, broadly oviform carapace consists of a univalve symmetrical about its longitudinal axis, formed by a continuous cuticle with no fold or hinge. In transverse cross-section, the ventral surface exhibits a broadly ‘W’-shaped outline. Areas of fine, setose objects are preserved, positioned antero-ventrally on either side of the mid-line axis. In transverse sections, a ring-shaped internal structure is also visible. In longitudinal cross-section, this structure is resolved into an axially positioned, internally subdivided tube occupying the mid- and posterior part of the carapace. A small, anteriorly positioned rostrum has a deep pit on each side, perhaps indicative of the socket of an antennal appendage. The arthropods are commonly found clustered together around plant axes, comprising groups of up to 25 or more similarly sized individuals. The chert texture enclosing many individual specimens indicates a sub-aqueous preservational environment. The same organism has recently been discovered in preparations from the nearby and equivalently aged Windyfield hot spring deposit. The morphology of this new arthropod suggests affinity with Branchiopoda and it is tentatively placed within the Diplostraca (an order which contains both ‘conchostracans’ and ‘cladocerans’, or water fleas). The presence of a univalve test suggests a cladoceran affinity, but the lack of diagnostic appendages in the present material does not allow us to take the classification any further. This is potentially the earliest known occurrence of the group and would extend their fossil record back from the Early Cretaceous. The remarkable similarity between these arthropods and their present-day representatives strongly indicates morphological stasis within the group from early on in their evolutionary history

Polyallyl diglycol carbonate "CR-39" is widely used in etched track-type particle detectors. Doppler-broadening positron annihilation (DBPAT) provides direct information about core and valence electrons in CR-39 due to radiation effects. It provides a non-destructive and non-interfering probe having a detecting efficiency. This paper reports the effect of irradiation α-particle intensity emitted from an 241 Am (5.486 MeV) source on the line-shaped S- and W-parameters for the CR-39 samples. The behavior of the line-shaped S- and W-parameters can be related to the different phases. Modification of the CR-39 samples due to irradiation were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The XRD chart reveals a new peak that starts to appear at 2.86 MeV α-particle energy. The appearance of this peak might be related to the phase transition. The phase transition in the CR-39 polycarbonate remains complex.

The interface between the brain and the skull consists of three fibrous tissue layers, dura mater, arachnoid, and pia mater, known as the meninges, and strands of collagen tissues connecting the arachnoid to the pia mater, known as trabeculae. The space between the arachnoid and the pia mater is filled with cerebrospinal fluid which stabilizes the shape and position of the brain during head movements or impacts. The histology and architecture of the subarachnoid space trabeculae in the brain are not well established in the literature. The only recognized fact about the trabeculae is that they are made of collagen fibers surrounded by fibroblast cells and they have pillar- and veil-like structures. In this work the histology and the architecture of the brain trabeculae were studied, via a series of in vivo and in vitro experiments using cadaveric and animal tissue. In the cadaveric study fluorescence and bright field microscopy were employed while scanning and transmission electron microscopy were used for the animal studies. The results of this study reveal that the trabeculae are collagen based type I, and their architecture is in the form of tree-shaped rods, pillars, and plates and, in some regions, they have a complex network morphology.

Thermoplastic collagen is a partially denatured collagen powder which can be processed by thermoplastic methods such as extrusion and injection molding, but was hitherto not adapted for the use in additive manufacturing (AM) techniques. This paper describes the first successful application of collagen/water/glycerol mixtures in an AM process using a BioScaffolder 3.2 from GeSiM mbH. Strands of molten collagen were deposited onto a building platform forming differently shaped objects. The collagen melt was characterized rheologically and optimal processing conditions were established. The technique includes the use of supporting structures of PLA/wood composite for samples with complex geometry as well as post-processing steps such as the removal of the supporting structure and manual surface smoothing. The manufactured objects are characterized concerning water solubility, swelling behavior and compressibility. Possible applications are in the non-medical sector and include collagen-based pet food or customized organ models for medical training.

Abstract The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic provided a unique insight into the impacts of global disasters on pet ownership and companion animal services. This talk will review research on the impacts of various stages of the pandemic on the human-animal relationship, surprising increases in the adoption of pets from animal shelters around the world, and the potential reasons for those increases. I will also present new research on the impact of the pandemic on pet support services within the city of Vancouver, Canada, that will highlight the complex relationships between vulnerable human populations, the city’s response to the pandemic, and pet care. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic, and its associated economic impact, have completely re-shaped the field of animal sheltering and companion animal support services. In addition to being recognized as an essential service, animal shelter and veterinary staff were confronted with the need to identify only necessary operations to ensure care of animals and their communities without the risk of contracting and transmitting the virus. As a result, emergent animal sheltering trends now emphasize community-based approaches, abolishing harmful discriminative practices, and aiming to keep pets and their original owners together – all from the framework of One Health/ One Welfare. As global disasters are projected to increase in frequency due to climate change, a better understanding of impacts on the human-animal bond and support services will ensure that we can be better prepared for the future.

A new antimony(III)–phthalocyanine complex with the formula of [(SbPc)2(Sb2I8)(SbBr3)]2 has been obtained in the reaction of pure antimony powder with phthalonitrile under the oxidation conditions by iodine monobromide vapors. The complex crystallizes in the centrosymmetric space group of the triclinic system. Both independent (SbPc)+ units exhibit non-planar conformation, since the Sb(III) is larger than the equilibrium cavity size of the ring and cannot be accommodated without its expansion; thus, the metal protrudes out of the cavity, forming a saucer shape. The centrosymmetric anionic unit of the crystal consists of two (Sb2I8)2− interacted anionic units forming (Sb4I16)4− anionic complex that interacts with two SbBr3 molecules to form [Sb6I16Br6]4− anionic aggregate. Each [Sb6I16Br6]4− anionic aggregate is surrounded by four (SbPc)+ cations forming a supramolecular centrosymmetric (SbPc)4[Sb6I16Br6] complex. Translationally related (SbPc)4[Sb6I16Br6] molecules form a stacking structure along the [100] and [011] directions with N4–N4 distances of 3.55 and 3.53 Å, respectively, between the back-to-back-oriented saucer-shaped (SbPc)+ units. The interaction between the building units of the crystal was analyzed using the Hirshfeld surface and the analysis of the 2D fingerprint plots. The UV–Vis absorption spectra of crystal 1 were taken in CH2Cl2 and toluene solutions in the concentration range from 10−5 to 10−6 mol/L. No significant changes related to aggregation in solutions were observed. The Q-band in toluene solution is red shifted by ~15 nm in comparison to that in CH2Cl2 solution. Oxidation of (SbPc)4[Sb6I16Br6] yields SbVPc derivative. Both SbIII and SbV phthalocyanine derivatives absorb near infrared light (600–900 nm), which should be intriguing from the point of view of potential use as photosensitizers for PDT and as an infrared cut filter for plasma display and silicon photodiodes.

AbstractA fundamental idea in toric topology is that classes of manifolds with well-behaved torus actions (simply, toric spaces) are classified by pairs of simplicial complexes and (non-singular) characteristic maps. In a previous paper, the authors provided a new way to find all characteristic maps on a simplicial complex K(J) obtainable by a sequence of wedgings from K.The main idea was that characteristic maps on K theoretically determine all possible characteristic maps on a wedge of K.We further develop our previous work for classification of toric spaces. For a star-shaped simplicial sphere K of dimension n-1 with m vertices, the Picard number Pic(K) of K is m-n. We call K a seed if K cannot be obtained by wedgings. First, we show that for a fixed positive integer 𝓁, there are at most finitely many seeds of Picard 𝓁 number supporting characteristic maps. As a corollary, the conjecture proposed by V. V. Batyrev in is solved affirmatively.Secondly, we investigate a systematicmethod to find all characteristic maps on K(J) using combinatorial objects called (realizable) puzzles that only depend on a seed K. These two facts lead to a practical way to classify the toric spaces of fixed Picard number.

Gevninge – the gateway to LejreGevninge is one of many Danish villages characterised by having extensive modern housing estates built around a medieval core. The oldest part of the village, with a late Romanesque church, lies on the west side of a small river, Lejre Å, about 2 km from its mouth at Roskilde Fjord (fig. 1).Both in the 1880s and in the 1970s, remains of human skeletons were found in Grydehøj to the west of the old village core (fig. 2). These clearly originate from burials, but the finds are undated. In 1974, remains of an inhumation grave from Viking times were found a short distance from a sunken road which, up until the 18th century, was part of the main road between Kalundborg and Roskilde. In 1979, a gilded bronze strap-end mount from the 8th century AD was found less than 200 m south of the sunken road, but it was first in the winter of 1999-2000 that settlement remains from Viking times were discovered.The archaeological investigationsThe excavation in 2000 uncovered 3600 m2 of settlement remains; these had been heavily damaged by site development in the 1960s and 1970s (fig. 3). On the basis of the evidence available, it is impossible to determine whether these represent several phases of a single farmstead or a portion of a larger settlement. The absence of any traces of structures in the northern evaluation trenches indicates that the settlement did not extend to the north of the sunken road where the graves were found. The terrain falls relatively steeply away from the excavation to the east towards Gevninge Bygade and, although it is possible, it seems rather unlikely that the Viking Age settlement extended in this direction. Relative to the topography, an extension to the south and west seems most obvious.There is no doubt that the site should be assigned to the Viking period. House I is unlikely to be earlier than 10th century (fig. 4), whereas the rectangular pit-house belongs to the end of the same century or the subsequent one. House II (fig. 5) and the other pit-houses are – typologically – less useful for a precise dating of the site. The metal artefacts, including the strap-end mount and a handful of coins from the time of the Civil War, span the period from the 8th to the 14th century, but the majority belong in the 9th-10th centuries (figs. 9-13). Pottery is the most common artefact type and occurs as un-ornamented flat-bottomed settlement wares and Baltic ware (fig. 8). The former have typically inwardly curved rim sections, the sides of the vessels are un-ornamented and they are generally bucket-shaped (fig. 14). The Baltic ware pottery is characterised by more angular rims, which have often been finished off using a wooden shaping tool. Decoration is mostly in the form of encircling grooves, waved furrows and a series of slanting or circular impressions. Compared with the other finds from the structures, the Baltic ware from the excavation belongs in the latter part of the 10th century and up into the 11th century.Traces of crafts were not conspicuous. In one pit-house there were several un-fired clay loom weights, while two deep postholes in the bottom of another pit-house are interpreted as the base for a loom. The distaff whorls and – possibly – the few bone and antler needles also belong to textile production (fig. 7). Iron slag, which definitely was not one of the most conspicuous aspects, originates from “fire-based” crafts. Textile production and iron working are the crafts typically seen at agrarian sites, with the former occurring most frequently.On the basis of the buildings, the traces of crafts and the majority of the finds, the site must be categorised as an average farmstead from Viking times. The site did, however, include four unusual finds: a gold armring (figs. 12 and 13), part of a gilded bronze helmet (fig. 10), a bronze bucket and a winged spearhead. These finds give food for thought, nourished by Gevninge’s location in the landscape, combined with its proximity to the legendary Lejre.A main transport junctionThe area south of Gevninge is characterised by a series of branching streams which meet at Gammel Lejre and continue towards Roskilde Fjord in the form of Lejre Å. To the west and southwest there is an area of about 50 km2 with a more-or-less pronounced moraine landscape. Large parts of this have lain through historical times as rough ground, common and forest. This landscape type forms a very clear contrast to the area east of Lejre Å - a flat and fertile plain extending out to the Øresund and Køge Bugt. In landscape terms, this is a border area, running north-south, where crossing points had to be chosen with care. Gammel Lejre, which from the 5th to the 10th century was an important chieftain’s or royal farmstead with magnificent halls, huge long-houses and a cult site, is well-suited to the passage of east-westbound traffic (fig. 15). In the flat terrain to the east of Lejre Å, maps from the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century show no road network prior to the construction of two highways in the second half of the 18th century. These run in a straight line from Roskilde to Ringsted and Kalundborg, respectively. Between them, Ledreborg Allé can be seen; it was constructed at the same time and probably replaced a road running eastwards from Gammel Lejre. To the west of Lejre Å, the undulating landscape, with its numerous small, steep hills, small lakes, watercourses and wetlands, presented greater challenges. There was an alternative crossing point about 4 km to the northwest, close to the fjord. Today, this place is called Borrevejle, which means “the ford at the edge” (fig. 16). From Borrevejle, the road led to Gevninge and – via the sunken road to the north of the Viking Age settlement – down to Lejre Å. Here lay the ford Langvad, from where the road ran eastwards, south of Lyngbjerg Mose, towards Kattinge. The fact that the roads around 1800 led towards Kattinge is linked with the opportunity here to cross the system of watercourses and lakes which extended from Gammel Lejre and past Kor­nerup to a lake, Store Kattinge Sø, by Roskilde Fjord. At both ends of the lake there were lock bridges to allow passage. Store Kattinge Sø was originally a bay which was dammed in the High Middle Ages so that the water level today lies at +2.5 m. In Viking times the lock bridges at Store Kattinge Sø did not exist, the amount of water on the Kornerup Å drainage system was therefore less, and the possibilities for passage were decidedly different.The road eastwards from the ford in Gevninge could well have gone via Kattinge and crossed the watercourse between Lille Kattinge Sø and the bay. Around 1800, the road continued through Kongemarken, where a Viking Age inhumation grave, a Christian burial ground from the Late Viking and Early Medieval times, as well as remains of a settlement from the same time, have all been found. From here, the road swings northwards, across Gedevad and onwards to the east to the bishop’s thorp, Bistrup, and the village of Bjerget (St. Jørgensbjerg) with St. Clemens’ church on Roskilde Fjord. Neither of these two settlements can, with certainty, be traced back to before AD 1000. It is therefore an obvious possibility that eastward traffic from Kongemarken took a more southerly route, which – perhaps – is indicated by settlement remains and stray finds between Roskilde and Svogerslev Sø (see fig. 16). In this respect, it is worth mentioning that the two stray finds from Viking times from the Borrevejle area lie in association with the old road routes. Similarly, the small hoard of silver rings from Lyngbjerg Mose was found where the road from Gevninge to Kattinge ran from about 1800.From the above, it is apparent that there were two significant possibilities for the passage of east-west land traffic in the Gevninge-Lejre area. Both have topographic advantages and disadvantages, and identification of one as being more important than the other can be based on no more than a guess. However, inclusion of the waterways does contribute a new angle when addressing this question.The sea route to LejreThe Isefjord complex comprises a western and an eastern branch which both extend more than 35 km inland into Zealand. The western arm, Isefjord, is deep and wide and only has narrow passages around Orø (fig. 17). Despite the fact that Isefjord is the most accessible route from a seaward perspective, it is unlikely to have been the route taken by people travelling to Gammel Lejre. The distance over land to the Isefjord is almost three times as great as the shortest route between Gammel Lejre and Roskilde Fjord, and more than half of this distance comprises gently undulating rough ground with numerous ponds and wetlands.Roskilde Fjord is characterised by narrow navigation channels and variable water depth, but these naturally-determined sailing conditions would not have been a problem for people who knew the fjord. The bay, Lejre Vig, is the place closest to Gammel Lejre. The sea route leading to the bay is protected by a natural feature – a transverse bar, which extends from Bognæs in the south to Selsø in the north. The mouth of Lejre Å is, in topographical terms, a well-suited site for a landing place, but there is a lack of archaeological evidence for the existence of such a feature. Given the lack of a demonstrable landing place by the fjord, attention can be focussed on Lejre Å as being Gammel Lejre’s link with the sea.Streams and rivers as travel routesToday, very few watercourses in Denmark appear as being navigable. A very great proportion of them no longer have a natural appearance or water flow. This is primarily due to intensive efforts during the last 200 years to drain wet meadows and fields. Any evaluation of the navigability of a watercourse in Viking times is associated with a number of variable and, in part, unknown factors. Accordingly, any conclusions are vitiated by a degree of uncertainty, not least in the case of smaller watercourses. The width and depth of the stream or river is decisive in determining the size of vessel which can be navigated. The fall and natural course of a watercourse, which in places is sharply meandering with a variable water depth, will be limiting factors relative to the size of the vessel which is able to pass (fig. 18).The appearance of Lejre Å on maps from the 19th century can give some indication of the conditions prior to the time when drainage and water extraction were initiated. It seems that the course of the stream was relatively straight from its mouth up to Gevninge. However, at Gevninge Church there was a very sharp turn and this is still in existence. To the south of the village, the stream is considerably narrower and substantially more winding. Particularly from Kornerup and southwards towards Gammel Lejre, the course is, in places, strongly meandering. Overall, the stream has a fall from Gammel Lejre to its mouth of 7 m, which corresponds to a gradient of 1‰. The fall is not, however, evenly distributed. From Gammel Lejre, and about 1.5 km down its course, the stream falls 2.79‰, whereas the fall over the next 750 m is 1.31‰. From here to the ford in Gevninge, the fall is 0.5‰, with the last section to the mouth of the river having a fall of 0.34‰. Ole Crumlin-Pedersen has suggested that a watercourse is navigable – all things being equal – as long as the fall is less than 2‰. Alone on this basis, it is unlikely in the past that vessels sailed all the way to Gammel Lejre. It is therefore an obvious possibility that Gevninge was the place where the change was made from waterway to roadway.The distance from Gevninge to Gammel Lejre is 3.7 km by road, as shown on maps from around 1800. The road departs from an area where Viking Age settlement has been excavated and it follows the contours of the landscape in such a way that steep passages are avoided. The route taken by this road, rather than the river, constitutes the probable link between the two places.ConclusionGammel Lejre was not established at some random place in the landscape. With regard to resources, it was a border area between the hamlets of the Eastern Zealand plain and the Central Zealand forest settlements. In addition, it provided a satisfactory, potential crossing point east-west over the steam systems from the south. There is archaeological, legendary and historical evidence showing that Gammel Lejre was a very special place in the Late Iron Age and Viking times. This special position arose from its role as a cultic and power-political centre.The same situation was probably the case at the Tissø complex in Western Zealand, which was established at the beginning of the Late Germanic Iron Age. Tissø lies slightly more than 6 km from the coast, and both its name and finds from the lake demonstrate the cultic significance of the site. Almuth Schülke has pointed out that the Tissø complex lies virtually on an island, with the lake to one side and wetlands and watercourses to the other. Access to Tissø was made difficult by natural barriers in the landscape which conferred exclusiveness and – not least – the possibility of controlling traffic to the settlement.The topographically determined limitations on potential access to Gammel Lejre are not as clear as in the case of the Tissø complex. Watercourses and wetlands to the south and east form a natural border, and the rough ground of the common landscape to the west contains its own obstacles. None of these barriers was insurmountable but they could well have functioned as a border zone around Gammel Lejre. In the area of common from Borrevejle in the north to Ledreborg Castle in the south, a couple of settlements have been demonstrated along with three graves and a few stray finds from the Roman Iron Age. Similarly, in the Middle Ages there were at least five thorps here, which were later abandoned. For the central period relative to Gammel Lejre, the 5th-10th centuries AD, there are no finds from this area. It was not necessarily a conscious choice that the area lay abandoned. The same tendency to abandon poorer soils at the beginning of the Late Iron Age can be seen elsewhere, such as, for example, in Nordskoven at Jægerspris and on Halsnæs at the northernmost part of Roskilde Fjord. Neither is it unusual that areas such as these were then re-occupied for thorp settlement in the Early Middle Ages. This does not, however, change the fact that the area to the west of Gammel Lejre appears to have lain as a wilderness in Viking times. Apart from one artefact with no details of its exact find spot, there are no recorded finds from the Late Iron Age bet­ween the central site and Elverdamsåen, a watercourse lying about 10 km to the west.Access to Gammel Lejre was obviously regulated so that approved people could enter and intruders were held at a distance. Gevninge was a link in this invisible fence. Gevninge is located where roads running east-west meet to avoid Central Zealand’s areas of hilly rough ground, and where watercourses could be crossed relatively unproblematically. Furthermore, Gevninge was a landing place and offloading point for vessels that were able to enter the lower part of Lejre Å. Larger vessels could perhaps have lain at the mouth of the stream or innermost in Lejre Vig, but from here people would anyway have been directed to follow the road from Gevninge to Gammel Lejre.Seen in the light of this situation, Gevninge could have been the home of the Lejre King’s entrusted servant. He not only controlled the traffic through the area and access to Gammel Lejre, he also represented the Lejre king and, on his behalf, received distinguished personages and – who knows – perhaps escorted them to important meetings in the exclusivity of the magnificent hall. With this position in society, Lejre’s gatekeeper probably received gifts of golden rings, magnificent weapons and vessels from Lejre’s pugnacious king.Jens UlriksenRoskilde Museum

Kærgård, Daugbjerg– a Late Iron Age settlement with a workshop areaExcavations carried out in 2007‑09 on the edge of a meadow at the farm of Kærgård, about 15 km west of Viborg (figs. 1-2) revealed evidence of houses and activities dating from the Germanic Iron Age and Viking Age (c. AD 400‑950). Even though an area of about 14,000 m2 was uncovered, the site has not been fully excavated. But even so, 19 houses, 20 pithouses, 27 fences, 40 wells and waterlogged pits and four drying pits were located.The housesOnly a few of the 19 houses will be mentioned here. House K2/K3 (fig. 5) is presumed to be a longhouse with dwelling and byre that was rebuilt once or twice on the same site. The house dates from the Early Germanic Iron Age or perhaps slightly earlier. House K8 (fig. 6) has a special extension to the north and is dated to the Late Germanic Iron Age or Early Viking Age. House K45 (fig. 7) is a smaller building and could be some kind of workshop; it is dated to the Viking Age. The rest of the houses that were fully uncovered are smaller, being either two-aisled or three-aisled workshop buildings.Twenty pithouses have been identified even though not all of them were very well preserved. The finds from them are quite varied and include spindle whorls, a whetstone, bronze tweezers, an iron needle, an amber bead, a glass bead, an arrowhead and an iron knife (fig. 8). One pithouse was found to contain potsherds from at least 26 different hemispherical vessels; nine of these had a hole for a repair (fig. 9), indicating that this building was probably used for repairing pots.Wells and waterlogged pitsThe 40 structures can be divided into five groups: natural ponds, smaller waterlogged pits (10), wells without a lining (10), wells with a lining (13) and basins (3). The latter three groups in particular have yielded some interesting information.Dendrochronological analysis of the wood has been carried out at Wormanium and the Danish National Museum, resulting in some cases in very precise dates.The wells with a lining vary in construction: Four have a woven wattle lining (fig. 10‑11), two are lined with branches (fig. 12), two have planks and reused timber, two comprise hollow tree trunks (fig. 13) and a third has half a tree trunk.The basins are rather shallow ponds, with logs laid out to walk on (fig. 14); one even has a layer of small branches at its base (fig. 15).Some of the wells without a lining probably originally had one that was removed when the well was demolished. A ladder was found in each of two smaller wells without a lining; one had just a single step, the other had three (fig. 16).A further type of structure should be mentioned: pits used for heating. Four of these contained heat-damaged stones and charcoal, a fifth held a large charred tree trunk, while another two were reused wells, almost completely backfilled, then lined with red-burnt clay. The purpose of these structures could have been for heating or drying.FindsThe waterlogged conditions have resulted in excellent preservation, with numerous wooden artefacts being preserved. A small spoon, parts of a wooden bowl, small clubs and various items of unknown function have been found (fig. 18). There is also building timber, several wagon axles and an arrow-shaped ard share (figs. 19 and 20). Pieces of rope (fig. 21) were found in one well and another contained pieces of rolled birch bark (fig. 22).Two wooden lures (fig. 23) represent quite unique finds. One is 50 cm long and made of willow wood. Its mouthpiece is very well preserved and has a binding of lime bast. The second lur is about 80 cm long and broader than the first. Only five other examples are known from Denmark: one from Herning Torv, three from Holing and one from Nydam.Scientific analysesExamples of animal bones from the site are shown in figure 24. Cattle are fairly dominant, but horse is also surprisingly common. The wood used for various purposes was also investigated. Figure 25 shows the species used for well linings and figure 26 the wood dropped or thrown into a pool. Ten different species have been identified. Two pollen analyses are shown in figure 27.Analyses of plant remains from the wells were carried out to examine whether there was specialised production of textiles of nettle and/or flax. However only a few flax seeds were found and although there were fairly numerous nettle seeds, this was insufficient to prove that retting had been carried out in the wells and ponds. Neither was any evidence of other functions found (fig. 28).Plant macro-remains from the pithouses include various cereals and weeds (figs. 30 and 31). House K45 also yielded several different cereals, mostly from the middle of the house where activities may have been concentrated.Functions of the wells, pithouses and other structuresThere seem to be too many wells just to provide drinking water, so other possible functions have been considered. The Viking Age settlement excavated at Næs on Zealand also had quite a large number of pithouses and wells, and in some of the latter were found bundles of flax stems. These wells had been used as retting pits for flax and the pithouses were small textile workshops. Only a few seeds of flax were found at Kærgård, but there were some nettle seeds. The botanical remains are consequently very sparse, but the archaeological features indicating textile production are more numerous (fig. 32). The many wells and waterlogged pits, ladders and logs giving access to the basins all indicate the presence of retting pits, and some drying pits could have been used for drying the plant stems before breaking them. Spindle whorls in the pithouses indicate that these could have been used for textile production.The way the site is structured is also rather unusual. In the southern part there appear to be three typical farm units (fig. 33), while the concentration of pithouses in the north seems more likely to represent a workshop or production area. Smaller working units (all outside the fences) can be seen in at least three places at the site: These comprise a retting pit, clean water wells, drying pits and smaller workshop buildings (fig. 34).Perspectives and conclusionsA workshop area like that located at Kærgård has not been found at any other site in Viborg Museum’s area. At Duehøj SV there were three wells and pithouses, but no retting or drying pits, at Højlund Spangsdal there was a drying pit and a waterlogged area but no pithouses, and at Spangsbjerg the retting pits, drying pits and pithouses were distributed among the farm buildings.Other sites, such as Næs at Zealand and Seden Syd at Funen, show a greater similarity to Kærgård. However, both of these sites also have evidence of trade, of which there is no sign at Kærgård.Iron production sites represent another type of specialised site. They are well known in southwest Jutland where the large numbers of iron-smelting furnaces at some sites indicate that the production was greater than for the village’s own consumption. Such sites have also been found closer to Kærgård at sites excavate by Silkeborg and Herning Museums. However, these sites also lack evidence of trade.These specialised sites indicate that it is necessary to understand the organisation of the Late Iron Age settlement in a more complex way.The excavation at Kærgård has revealed an agrarian settlement with a workshop area indicating that there was specialised production, probably of textiles, that was intended for trade with other settlements. The fact that trade and exchange became increasingly important during the Germanic Iron Age and Viking Age has been known for a long time, but we do not know of many specialised sites as that at Kærgård. We do not know whether they were controlled by a chieftain at the site or located further away, but these specialised sites are yet another piece in the jigsaw puzzle of Late Iron Age settlement structure.Kamilla Fiedler TerkildsenViborg MuseumMarianne Høyem AndreasenMoesgaard Museum

The relationship between a country's level of activity in the construction industry and its stage of economic development is a complex one. Several studies over the last forty years, based mainly on cross sectional data, found a positive association between national income and several measures of the construction industry activity. early studies were concerned with the role of the construction sector, as part of physical capital, in the promotion of economic growth and development. a dominant paradigm that later emerged is the ‘Bon curve’ or the inverted U-shaped pattern of development. More recent research, based on longitudinal analysis, has also pointed to the non-linear relationship between the share of construction in GDP and the level of income per capita. Using time-series data drawn from the United nations, this study applies an econometric methodology to assess the validity of the underlying propositions in a low-middle income economy-Cape Verde—over the long period of 38 years. The findings are in line with the assumptions that in the upward growth trend in developing countries, the pattern of the construction industry tends to follow that of the general economy. Santrauka Ryšys tarp šalies aktyvumo statybos pramonėje lygio ir jos ekonominės plėtros stadijos yra kompleksinis. Keliais per pastaruosius keturiasdešimt metų atliktais tyrimais, paremtais daugiausia tarpsektoriniais duomenimis, nustatyti teigiami ryšiai tarp nacionalinių pajamų ir kelių statybos pramonės aktyvumo priemonių. Ankstyvieji tyrimai buvo susiję su statybos sektoriaus, kaip fizinio kapitalo dalies, vaidmeniu skatinant ekonominį augimą ir plėtrą. Vėlesnis pavyzdys yra „Bon kreivė” arba apverstos U raidės formos plėtros modelis. Naujausi tyrimai, paremti longitudine analize, taip pat buvo orientuoti į nelinijinius ryšius tarp statybosdalies BVP ir pajamų, tenkančių vienam gyventojui, lygio. Naudojantis Jungtinių Tautų duomenimis, šiame tyrime taikoma ekonometrinė metodika, kuria siekiama įvertinti pagrindinius projektus mažas ir vidutines pajamas gaunančioje valstybėje—Žaliajame Kyšulyje—per 38 metų laikotarpį. Išvados atitinka prielaidas, kad besivystančių šalių augimo tendencija, statybos pramonės modelis yra linkę sekti bendros ekonomikos tendenciją.

Advances in society have enriched lifestyles, making them more comfortable and increasing spare time. People spend more time and money on entertainment 'and amusement, purchasing more than basic necessities and spending time at recreational facilities. Devices used in entertainment and amusement frequently interact with people, making it important to design them emphasizing subjective evaluations by people who interact with them rather than objective evaluations such as speed and accuracy. This makes technologies on entertainment and amusement interdisciplinary, going beyond the scope of conventional engineering with consideration of human sensitivities. Sugeno describes this interdisciplinary technology and discusses its possibilities in ""Engineering and Amusement."" This special edition presents information on Japanese mechatronics technologies for entertainment and amusement to overseas people. Included are papers on scholarly- and technologically-de novo research and developments and technologies already put into practical use as commercially available products. Devices for entertainment and amusement must interact with people in different ways, and as such, they take a wide variety of shapes and have a broad array of controllers to suitably accommodate different human needs. It is therefore of critical importance to give special consideration to human sensitivity, which makes this area of engineering difficult to standardize and generalize. It is, however, becoming increasingly important in different fields of engineering to take interaction between machinery and people into consideration. This special edition provides perspectives and technologies that hold clues for the field of entertainment and amusement and also for many other areas of research and development. Kuroki et al. discuss the structure and the control architecture of SDR-X, a humanoid robot developed for entertainment, and detail the dancing performance of this robot in ""A Small Biped Entertainment Robot."" Shibata et al. statistically analyze the findings of subjective evaluation of the Mental Commit Robot Paro, a robot shaped like a baby seal developed to provide positive psychological effects such as pleasure and comfort to people through interaction, and considers the results in ""Subjective Evaluation of Seal Robot Paro."" Mitsui et al. tell about the results of physiological experiments and subjective evaluations of psychophysiological effects of interactions with a seal-shaped Mental Commit Robot on people in ""Psycho-physiological Effects by Interaction with Mental Commit Robot."" Nakata et al., in ""Analysis of Impression of Robot Bodily Expression,"" suggest a method for setting up physical characteristics of movements based on the theory of Laban in Choreologia as a way of quantitatively evaluating impressions of movement of a robot a person gets during interaction, and discuss the method's effectiveness. Tanaka et al., in ""Principle of Stable Running of A Unicycle Robot,"" describe the research and development of a unicycle robot modeled after the movement of a person riding a unicycle. They analyzed the mechanism of complex and skillful movements to have the robot make comical human-like movements. These findings could be applied to controlling robots in general. Kobayashi et al., in ""A New Concept of the Robotic Technology Applicable to Human Physical Support,"" describe a muscle suit to support human muscles with the help of air tube actuators. Because this suit enables people to move about naturally, its technology is applicable as component technology for new types of entertainment. Yamamoto et al., in ""Conversation with a Communication Robot Named Wonder - for the Mental Support of the Elderly Living Alone,"" discuss results of a validation experiment for a robot developed with several objectives, including the 'reduction of the psychological burden on elderly people who live alone and applications as a pet and/or a speech partner and as an interface for outside communication through CATV to make their daily life safer. Fuj ita, in ""Personal Robot PaPeRo,"" tells about the objective of the development, design, function, and structure of the autonomous robot PaPeRo developed for communication with people in private households and reports the results of an experiment in which 12 families lived together with the robot for about 2 months. Miyake et al., in ""Interactive Simulation Ride System,"" present a simulation system with a high degree of virtual sense capability being achieved by a 3-6 mensional audiovisual perception data display using virtual reality technology and a ride system with 4 degrees of freedom. This system is already being used in amusement facilities and museums. Haga, in ""WonderBorg and BN-l,"" describes the concept of development, system structure, and control of an insect-shaped robot ""WonderBorg"" and a cat-like robot BN-I developed with the objective of offering interactive entertainment to people through assembling and programming robot. Nagasu, in ""Dream Force O1,"" tells about the concept of development and the structure of Dream Force 01, a bipedal locomotion robot that can be operated by the user for pleasure with the help of a robot controller. Omshi, in ""POO-CHI,"" discusses the design and the function of a dog-shaped robot toy POO-CHI that has become a hot seller all over the world. We thanks Japan Toy Culture Foundation on supports for preparation of developments reports.

The number of special-shaped foundation pits is increasing fast because of the continuous utilization of underground spaces in urban areas. Based on the deep foundation pit of Maluan North Station of Xiamen Metro Line 2 in Xiamen, China, the deformation characteristics of the supporting structure of special-shaped foundation pits are researched by field observation and numerical simulation. Meanwhile, the depth of the concrete supports and steel supports is considered, respectively. The results show that the lateral deformation of the diaphragm wall at the corner of the pit shows obvious corner effect, and the maximum lateral displacement of the long-side diaphragm wall is slightly larger than the short-side diaphragm wall. Changing the position of the second layer of steel support has almost no effect on the lateral deformation of the corner diaphragm wall. Changing the position of the second layer of concrete support has a greater impact on the lateral displacement of the diaphragm wall, but the path of the maximum lateral displacement of the diaphragm wall and the depth of the point of maximum lateral displacement remain unchanged.

We describe a pilot community-based conservation initiative for wolves Canis lupus that involves (i) voluntary deactivation of traditional trapping pits called Shandong, (ii) commitment to wildlife conservation by the local community, and (iii) collaborative construction and consecration of a Stupa (Buddhist shrine) in the vicinity of the Shandong as a symbol of conservation and repentance for past hunting. People and wolves have a complex relationship, in part shaped by predation on livestock, which can have severe impacts on livelihoods in pastoral societies. Consequently, wolf conservation often evokes strong and polarizing reactions. To control wolf populations, livestock herders across the Trans- Himalayan and Tibetan regions use different types of traps. Shandong is a relatively large, widely used traditional trapping pit with inverted funnel-shaped stone walls, usually built near villages or herder camps. Typically, a live domestic animal is placed in the pit to attract the wolves. Once the wolves jump into the pit, the funnel shaped walls prevent them from escaping, and trapped wolves are usually stoned to death. In an extensive survey covering over 25,000 sq. km, we enumerated 94 Shandong in 58 of the 64 surveyed villages in Ladakh between June 2019 and March 2020. Thirty of these had been used to kill wolves within the past 10 years, while 7 had been destroyed. Shandong that were not in use were of poorer condition. Since 2017, we have worked with community members, local monks, and the region’s religious leaders to support the neutralization of the Shandong while preserving their structure, and assisted the communities to build Stupas and to consecrate them. Our pilot efforts with three communities appear to generate pride locally, and hold promise for promoting wolf conservation in Ladakh and in large parts of Trans-Himalayan and Tibetan regions that share similar cultural settings.

The two Linear Pottery culture lithic complexes presented in this paper came from northern Moldova. The Nicolaevca V assemblage was gathered from excavations of a small LBK dwelling, while the Ţâra II collection came from an eight-shaped pit. There was a “deposit” of objects suitable for knapping found in Nicolaevca V. This complex reflects flake-oriented expedient knapping. The Ţâra II complex represents a complicated sequence for obtaining regular blades. The interpretation of their differences is sought in the social organization of Neolithic flint-knapping, in which the Nicolaevca V lithic assemblage supposedly reflects domestic production in a household context, while Ţâra II products could have been involved in the exchange network.

AbstractThe tomb of Bai, Lord of the State of Zhongli, located in Shuangdun Village, Bengbu City, Anhui, was excavated by the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Bengbu Museum from December 2006 through August 2008. This tomb was a large-scale vertical earthen shaft pit tomb with a tumulus at ground level; the grave was in a circular plan with a ring-shaped ledge of primary soil 2m below the opening. The tomb passageway was situated to the precise east of the grave. In the tumulus and the tomb fill, “five-colored soil”, a buffer layer of white clay, “radial lines”, earthen “hillocks”, and “clay figurine walls” were recovered, and the tomb chamber was cross-shaped. The structure was original and the remains were complex; the grave goods were very rich, with over 500 items recovered, including bronze bells,

The Gilbert site (41RA13) is an important mid-18th century American Indian site on an alluvial terrace along Lake Fork Creek, adjacent to the upper part of Lake Fork Reservoir in Rains County, Texas. The site was first investigated in 1962 by the Dallas Archeological Society, and based on the findings from that work, the Texas Archeological Society (TAS) had a field school at the site in June and July 1962. There are several notable features of the Gilbert site. First, it contains 21 midden mounds about 6-9 m in diameter and ca. 1 m in height spread out over ca. 50 aces of the alluvial terrace landform. The middens do not represent habitation features, as the “only occupational features discovered besides the middens were two pits that were evidently used for storing grain or other products. No house floors, post-mold patterns, burials, hearths, or other such structural remains were found." Further investigation by Blaine identified other midden features (discussed further below, and the source of the ceramic sherds discussed in this article) and a well-preserved bell-shaped storage pit in Feature 20. The newly-discovered midden features were not mounded or had a clay cap, and neither contained any evidence of structural remains or features. Structural features are considered more likely to be found in inter-midden areas than in the middens themselves. A second notable feature of the Gilbert site is the abundance of mid-18th century European trade goods in the archeological deposits, much of it likely obtained from French traders. These goods include metal tools (knives, axes, wedges, hatchets, hoes, scrapers, awls, chisels, scissors, arrow points, and a Spanish sword hilt), gun parts, ornaments (especially glass trade beads), brass kettles, horse trappings, fl at and bottle glass, and chipped glass pieces. Third, there was a substantial aboriginal ceramic sherd assemblage from the Gilbert site. The analysis of the sherds suggested that they are from vessels “too stylistically and technologically diverse to represent only one locally-produced ceramic complex." Furthermore, “the majority, and perhaps even all, of the decorated ceramics [at the site] are derived ultimately from the Caddoan [sic], particularly Fulton Aspect [Late Caddo period], tradition. Many close parallels exist in the modes and styles of decoration, paste characteristics, and vessel forms." And lastly, the various results of the investigations suggested that the site was a village occupied by southern Wichita groups, possibly the Tawakoni, Kichai, or Yscani Indians. This conclusion is far from uniformly accepted, a point I will return to in the final section of this article. In the remainder of this article, I discuss the analysis of a small collection of previously unstudied ceramic sherds from two midden features (F-B3 and F-B4) excavated by Jay and Jerrylee Blaine from the Gilbert site. The focus of the analysis is to characterize the principal stylistic and technological characteristics of the ceramic sherd assemblages from these two middens, compare this assemblage in those aspects with the larger assemblage from numerous middens studied by Story, and then offer my own interpretation of the cultural affiliations of the Gilbert site occupants based on the ceramic sherd assemblage data.

The article presents the preliminary results of the interdisciplinary research (geological and geospatial studies, archaeological excavations, salt production experiments, and ethnographic survey) carried out during 2016-2019, in the site and hybrid saltscape of Băile Figa, well known for its remarkable environmental, ancient and current salt exploitation evidence. Besides, the article aims to evaluate the contribution of the recent research to a better understanding of the environmental context of the site and ancient salt production technology in the Inner Carpathian region. Also, it focuses on the hybrid character of the site and its potential to the transdisciplinary and holistic study. Environmental context. The site is rich in environmental, archaeological and ethnographic evidence. It is positioned in the salt-rich area of the Someșul Mare Basin at the northern edge of the Transylvanian Plain (Fig. 1/2; 2/1). The site is part of the landscape that was and is strongly affected by the dynamics of a salt diapir (Fig. 2/2) and deposits of salt mud, brine and halo-biotic factors, as well as by the intense human activity. Excavation. The excavation was carried out in Trench S.XV (16 m x 14 m), located in the central-southern sector of the site. The trench cut through the stream-bed and steep and high banks of the salt stream that crosses the site from south to north (Fig. 4; 5, 10). Its profile sections show four major stratigraphic units: a blackish topsoil, yellow clay mixed with gravel, salty mud, and the rock salt massif. The excavation was conducted in the mud layer, in the central sector of the trench, and in the clay-and-gravel layer found in its lateral sectors. In the area of ca. 60 square meters of the central sector, the excavation has reached the rock salt massif (Fig. 7-11). The excavation in the trench has uncovered rich evidence for Late Bronze Age salt production: seven interconnected features and around one hundred artifacts. The vast majority of the finds have been uncovered in the mud layer. The uncovered features included five timber structures surviving in the salt mud layer, as well as a ditch and a pit dug in the rock salt massif. Feature 1-XV-2013 (Fig. 12; 14/1) is a structure that includes a cone-shaped wattle-lined pit surrounded by a roundish wattle-made fence. The pit cuts through the mud up to the rock salt massif. Its rock salt bottom was sectioned by a ditch, 0.4-0.5 m wide and over 0.9 m deep. It seems that first, by rather extensive digging, the soil and mud were removed down to the salt massif. Then, a ditch, about 5 m long, 0.4 m wide and over 0.9 m deep (see below), was dug in the rock, from east to west. After that, a cone-shaped outer framework made of wattle (D maximal: 1.2 m, D minimal: 0.4 m, H: 1.8 m) was placed over the ditch, narrow end down. After that, the empty space around the framework was filled with mud. Then the pit was surrounded by a roundish wattle fence. A 1.6 m long massive rope made of three twisted threads (Clematis vitalba) has been found in the ditch (Fig. 41). Four samples taken from the wattle framework have produced five dates which fall between 2821±24 and 2778±26 BP. Feature 2-XV-2013 (Fig. 13) was uncovered in the northern part of the trench, on the right side of the stream, between feature 1-XV-2013 (see above) and the north edge of the trench. It was a rectilinear fence, 3.6 m long, built of vertical planks, split troughs, and channelled pieces, pushed into the mud down to the rock salt massif. Three fragments of the troughs from the fence were dendrochronologically dated to the period between 996 and 980 BC. Feature 1-XV-2015 (Fig. 14) was uncovered in the central-southern part of the trench. It was a corridor, 2.5 m long and 1 m wide, oriented E – W, made of two parallel rectilinear alignments of massive upright poles driven into the mud. One of its poles was at the same time part of the fence of the Feature 1-XV-2013. The corridor, on the base of three samples, has been radiocarbon-dated between 2870±32 and 2718±30 BP. Feature 1-XV-2018 (Fig. 15-17) was partially uncovered in the north-west part of the trench, about 3.5 m west of the stream. It is a 5 m long fence, oriented S – N, made of vertical planks, stakes (Fig. 17/2), and a split trough (Fig. 17/1), stuck into the mud, and four horizontal planks linking them to each other (Fig.17/2). Not dated. Feature 2-XV-2018 (Fig. 18; 19/1) was partially uncovered in the western part of the trench, in the rock salt massif. It is a roundish pit (over 2.5 x 1.8 m) with irregular edges, ca. 1.7 m deep below the salt massif surface. Not dated. Feature 3-XV-2018 (Fig. 19; 20) was uncovered in the central part of the trench. It was a ditch dug in the salt massif, 0.4 to 0.8 m wide, over 0.9 m deep, and about 4 m long. It cuts through the bottom of feature 1-XV-2013 (Fig. 12/2) and links it to the feature 2-XV-2018. Not dated. Feature 4-XV-2018 (Fig. 19/1; 20-22) was uncovered in the south-east corner of the trench, covering about 4 x 4 m, and consisted of a cluster of parallel beams laying on the salt massif, and a few vertical poles. The feature continues eastwards and southwards beyond the sides of the trench. On the base of three samples, it was radiocarbon-dated between 2856±31 and 2817±30 BP. Artifacts. We found some 100 artifacts in Trench S.XV during the excavation seasons, between 2016 and 2019. Most of them were made of wood, 1 of hemp (?), and 3 of stone (basalt). The wooden artifacts include 31 component pieces and fragments of trough bodies (Fig. 24-27), 17 channelled pieces (Fig. 28-30), 2 shovels (Fig. 33), 12 paddles (Fig. 31; 32), 4 mallets (Fig. 34/2,3), an L-shaped haft for a socketedaxe (Fig. 34/1), 2 pans (Fig. 35), a bowl (Fig. 36), fragments of 2 ladders (Fig. 37), 3 knife-shaped tools (Fig. 38/2,3), 11 rods with pointed end (Fig. 38/4), 4 loops made of twisted twigs (Fig. 40), a massive rope made of three twisted threads (Clematis vitalba) (Fig. 41), and 5 wedges. One of the artifacts found was made of plant material, possibly hemp: a small twisted cord (it may come from a peg inserted in the trough hole). Stone (basalt) artifacts include 2 mining hammers (mining tools) with engraved grooves aimed to fix the bindings (Fig. 44/1,3), an ovoid-shaped object with many percussion marks at its thicker end (Fig. 44/2). The chronology of the finds. In 2018 4 samples (wattle) from the Feature 1-XV-2013 were dated at Oxford University Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art / Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. In 2019 some of the timber features (1-XV-2015 and 4-XV-2018) and wooden artifacts (the ladder, the troughs nos. 4 and 5 and some others) were radiocarbon dated by “Horia Hulubei” National Institute for Research and Development in Physics and Nuclear Engineering. Most of the dates fall between 1000 – 900 cal BC. Just one date (a wooden bowl) falls between ca. 1419-1262 cal BC (Tabels 1, 2, 3). The structures and most of the artifacts uncovered in S.XV date to ca. XI-IX centuries cal BC and seem to have been part of a complex production system aimed at brine and rock salt processing. Differential distribution of finds across the site. The research has revealed differential distribution of finds across the site. Thus, the evidence dating to ca. 2300 – 2000 cal BC (a pit dug in the rock massif and pottery), 1600 – 1400 cal BC (a wattle-built structure and wooden troughs), and 400 – 180 cal BC (timber-lined shaft, a wooden ladder and pottery) is mainly concentrated in the southern sector of the site. In exchange, the finds dating to ca. 1400 – 1100 cal BC have mainly been uncovered in the south-central part of the site (timber structures) and northern part of the site (pottery). The evidence dating to about 1050 – 850 cal BC covers two distinct areas: the south-central and northern sectors of the site. While about thirty fragmented troughs have been found in the south-central sector, no one object of this kind has been found in the northern sector. There are also differences concerning the timber structures between these sectors of the site. These strongly suggest that in XI – IX centuries cal BC, at least two different and complementary production areas were active in the site. Salt production experiments. The experiments on salt production, using faithful replicas of Late Bronze Age artifacts uncovered in trenches S.I and S.XV – troughs, channelled pieces, mallets, wedges, stone mining hammers, etc. – aimed to obtain from the different source material – rock salt massif, brine, and mud – various forms of salt: lumps of rock salt, fine salt, and highly concentrated and pure brine. The experiments showed the technical validity of several techniques. The most effective were as follows: 1. Detaching lumps of rock salt from the massif. By means of jets of fresh water directed with the troughs (along the twisted cords fitted in the perforations of the sticks that went through the pegs which were fixed in the holes at the base of the trough) depressions were simultaneously created in the rock salt at ten to twenty spots, 10 to 15 cm apart and 7 to 12 cm deep. This process took few hours (Fig. 45/1). It was noticed that each hole generated one to three cracks in the salt massif, around 1 m long and 5 to 10 cm deep. The holes and cracks allowed the insertion of wooden wedges. By hitting them with heavy wooden mallets, the wedges were pushed down to ca. 20 cm deep. Finally, using hooked sticks, many blocks of rock salt could be detached from the massif. The larger blocks were easily broken by stone hammers (mining tools). 2. Producing small pieces of salt and fine salt from the rock salt massif. The first stages of the process were identical to the previously described. After the holes and cracks were created, the rock salt mass was beaten with stone hammers (mining tools) along the cracks and holes, so that small pieces of salt, as well as wet and soft fine salt, were easily separated from the mass. Thus, about 50 kilograms of fine salt were collected in 30 minutes during the experiment (Fig. 45/2). 3. Boiling brine in the troughs with hot stones and drawing off the brine. Stones heated as much as possible in a fire were immersed in the brine with which the trough was filled, thus bringing it to the boil (Fig. 46). The boiling continued until the salt begun to crystallize. After that, the trough, full of highly concentrated brine, was left motionless for several hours. The insoluble impurities of the brine sedimented according to their specific weight: the lightest of them floated to the top, while the heaviest (metals and minerals) settled on the bottom. Above the sediment lying on the bottom of the trough and under that at the top remained a rather thick layer of fairly clean brine. During the experiments, the lower sediment has never reached 3 cm in thickness. The wider tops of the plugs that were inserted into the holes found at the bottom of the trough, were at least 3 cm high. Because of this, the upper edges of the plugs remained above the sediment on the bottom of the trough. We then slightly raised the long sticks that were tightly inserted into the axial holes of the plugs, which in turn tightly closed the holes in the trough’s bottom. The sticks were fixed and maintained in a slightly raised position by a kind of pliers – half split twigs – set transversely over the trough opening. In this way, the brine was allowed to drain easily into channelled pieces set under the trough. The brine then flowed through the channelled pieces to the next trough(s). The process could be repeated in the next trough(s) until the salt makers would get a fairly clean and highly concentrated brine. Ethnographic survey. Băile Figa and its surroundings are places where the evidence for ethnographic research, of what is commonly called ‘the traditional salt civilization’, can still be found. In every ancient salt production archaeological site known in Romania, without any exception, the current folk salt exploitation is still in progress. The latter offers to these sites a valuable research potential, almost unique in Europe, for the ethnoarchaeological research. The ethnographic survey has attested a number of aspects of the present-day folk ways of exploiting brine, rock salt, salt mud, and halophytic vegetation, as well as other traditional practices and customs related to these resources. Brine folk exploitation. The most exploited saline occurrence at Băile Figa is currently brine. Brine is taken directly from the numerous springs filling the central salty stream valley (Fig. 48/1). Then, it is loaded into plastic drums of 50 to 200 litres and transported by carts to the neighbouring villages (Fig. 48/2). The locals told us that, in the past, the brine was transported in large, cone-shaped barrels, called “bote mari”, of 60 litres, made of softwood boards connected to each other with circles of hazel twigs (Fig. 49/5), in smaller containers, of approx. 20 litres, called “barbânțe” (Fig. 49/3), as well as in smaller containers hollowed out of tree trunks and called “bote” (Fig. 49/2). The most remote localities, to which the brine from Băile Figa is transported, are situated at a distance of 11 km. But most people that currently get brine from Băile Figa live within a maximum perimeter of 6 km. Brine is mainly used for preserving meat, bacon (especially around the winter holidays), and vegetables. Sometimes the brine is used for health care purposes, mainly against colds, rheumatic pains, skin diseases or circulatory deficiencies, either on the spot or at home. In the 1960s and 1970s, the locals built two brine ponds and used them for health cure baths. Rock salt folk exploitation. According to some elderly locals, until 1989, the rock salt was periodically extracted at Băile Figa, by manual or mechanized digging of vertical pits. It was mainly used to supplement the feed of domestic animals in the individual households, sheepfolds (Fig. 50) and collective farms or state agricultural enterprises. Sometimes, the locals crushed and grinded salt lumps. In some households in the village of Figa, we have identified and documented some primitive millstones used in salt grinding (Fig. 49/1). Ground salt is added to animal feed and very rarely in human food, people being sure that this kind of salt can harm their health. Sapropelic mud folk exploitation. The ethnographic surveys have documented the traditional exploitation of sapropelic mud at Băile Figa. It is found only in some limited spots of the salt stream valley. The spots with small deposits of sapropelic mud are known only by “connoisseurs” who, among the clues, are guided by a specific smell. The sapropelic mud is used for health care purposes, especially for the treatment of rheumatic diseases. The mud is applied, either on most of the body or only on the parts affected by pain. Sometimes, the mud is applied to animal wounds, for disinfection and drying. Mud-based treatments are done both on-site and at home. Shepherding. Until the building, during 2007 – 2011, of the leisure resort, Băile Figa was the favourite place for grazing for the local domestic animals (sheep, cows, buffaloes, and horses). The animals, according to the information delivered by the shepherds, loved salt grass and brine (Fig. 49/2). Shepherds tried to prevent the animals from drinking brine from the springs because their fondness of the salty taste made them to drink it in unhealthy quantities, so that they could “swell” and die. Beekeeping. In the northern sector of the salt stream valley, at the surface of the soil, in the summer of 2018, a primitive beehive made of a hollowed-out oak trunk was discovered (Fig. 48/4). So far, as we can know, it is a unique find of this sort in a saline context.

A new silver(I) complex of the type [Ag2(mbbp)2](pic)2·DMF·CH3OH [mbbp = 2,6-bis( N-methylbenzimidazol-2-yl)pyridine] is synthesized and analyzed using a range of spectroscopic and crystallographic techniques. This compound contains cationic Ag2(mbbp)2 dimers, in which the crossed eight-shaped structure is formed by two mbbp ligands bridging two silver(I) centers and Ag–Ag bonds. Two-dimensional supramolecular networks of the silver(I) complex are connected by π···π interactions and hydrogen bonds. Hirshfeld analyses are performed to support the aforementioned intermolecular interactions. The effect of π···π stacking interactions on the fluorescence properties of the complex is investigated. Cyclic voltammetry indicates two irreversible redox processes. In addition, an antioxidant assay in vitro demonstrates that the silver(I) complex displays excellent scavenging activity toward hydroxyl radicals.

AbstractOrigami has become an optimal methodological choice for creating complex three-dimensional (3D) structures and soft robots. The simple and low-cost origami-inspired folding assembly provides a new method for developing 3D soft robots, which is ideal for future intelligent robotic systems. Here, we present a series of materials, structural designs, and fabrication methods for developing independent, electrically controlled origami 3D soft robots for walking and soft manipulators. The 3D soft robots are based on soft actuators, which are multilayer structures with a dielectric elastomer (DE) film as the deformation layer and a laser-cut PET film as the supporting flexible frame. The triangular and rectangular design of the soft actuators allows them to be easily assembled into crawling soft robots and pyramidal- and square-shaped 3D structures. The crawling robot exhibits very stable crawling behaviors and can carry loads while walking. Inspired by origami folding, the pyramidal and square-shaped 3D soft robots exhibit programmable out-of-plane deformations and easy switching between two-dimensional (2D) and 3D structures. The electrically controllable origami deformation allows the 3D soft robots to be used as soft manipulators for grasping and precisely locking 3D objects. This work proves that origami-inspired fold-based assembly of DE actuators is a good reference for the development of soft actuators and future intelligent multifunctional soft robots.

Fiber path optimization methods combined with the Tailor Fiber Placement (TFP) technology provide the optimum correlation between load case and fiber orientation and therefore lead to unmatched component performance with endless fiber composite materials. The aim of this work is the development of an innovative manufacturing technology for thermoplastic composites (TPC) including sizing-adapted commingled glass fiber (GF) / thermoplastic yarns (SpinCom yarns) to be processed by TFP to textile preforms with a variable-axial, load adapted fiber design. Furthermore, these preforms will be consolidated in a low energy and resource consuming process using novel light and low cost forming tools produced by incremental sheet metal forming technology. Finally, a low cost solution for thermal processing even for complex shaped TPC parts will be presented. Heading towards optimized resource and cost efficiency of the whole process chain, first results of SpinCom yarns, fiber path optimization, tool manufacturing and forming procedure are presented and demonstrated using GF/PBT (polybutylene therephthalate) SpinCom yarns and the geometry of a bicycle saddle.

Abstract This overview of animal studies scholarship from 2020 covers a diverse range of sites – from escaped primates in IKEA carparks to boar hunting in colonial India – and disciplinary contexts, drawing together research from philosophy, literary theory, the environmental humanities, animal geographies, imperial history, and ecofeminism. What unites these texts is their engagement with one of the most significant themes in animal studies: the politics of anthropocentrism. The first sections of the essay engage with work that has sought to critique anthropocentric logics and practices. Through focusing on research related to the exotic pet trade, avian extinction, and colonial science, I illustrate how anthropocentric hierarchies are being enacted – but also complicated – but particular socio-economic relationships and knowledge-frameworks. In the second sections of the essay, I engage more explicitly with scholarship that has foregrounded the complex relationships between anthropocentrism, colonialism, gendered inequalities, and racialization. Although this research is wide-ranging, what it shares is an insistence on the need to better situate narratives about the intersection of human and animal oppression, in light of the way these relations are shaped by specific national and cultural contexts. The essay culminates by discussing contemporary critiques of animal studies due to the primacy it has given to anthropocentrism over other oppressive social relations, particularly race. At the same time as arguing that the field needs to meaningfully engage with these critiques moving forward, I conclude by suggesting that there is something important about anthropocentrism that means it retains value as a critical concept for animal studies.

Abstract Background Environmental nontuberculous mycobacteria species that are not members of the M. tuberculosis complex, are ordinary inhabitants of a wide variety of environmental reservoirs and their role in human and animal diseases has been fully recognized. Even if spontaneous mycobacterial infections have been reported in a wide variety of reptiles, this is the first report of systemic fatal mycobacteriosis sustained by Mycobacterium goodii in a pet reptile. Case presentation An adult, wild caught (WC), male Kenyan sand boa (Eryx colubrinus loveridgei) age unknown, was presented for clinical examination due to decreased activity level, decreased appetite and diarrhea. Blood tests showed unreliable results. Coprologic exam showed a moderate to severe presence of flagellates. X rays and ultrasound showed moderate presence of air and faeces in the large intestine. The snake was hospitalized and oral metronidazole was chosen as antiprotozoal agent in association with subcutaneous warm fluids. The snake was discharged after 2 weeks therapy in good clinical condition. Faecal exam resulted negative. One month after, the snake was quickly hospitalized again because of a recrudescence of symptoms. Biochemistry showed severe increase of AST, ALT and biliary acids. Severe leucocytosis and moderate to severe anemia were highlighted. Ultrasound examination revealed a severe diffused alteration of the liver parenchyma and a fine needle aspiration was performed. The cytological diagnosis was mixed inflammation, with a numerous of unstained rod-shaped bacteria both inside macrophages and free in the sample. The snake’s condition rapidly deteriorated and euthanasia was performed. The histology of the coelomic organs confirmed a systemic mycobacteriosis. Real-time PCR identified the mycobacteria as Mycobacterium goodii. Conclusions Species from the genus Mycobacterium are among the most important micro-organism including the causative agents of tuberculosis. Even if the general incidence of disease in reptiles due to mycobacteria is comparatively low, they can serve as reservoirs of many ubiquitous mycobacteria species. Mycobacterium goodii is a rapidly growing non‐tuberculous mycobacterium that has recently been associated with severe infections in animals and humans. Although in this case the pathogenesis was not completely clear, we highlight the zoonotic risk of mycobacteriosis in exotic animals especially in WC specimens.