bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cave Men's Buildings
Authors: Childe V. Gordon
Published: August 2016

The popular epithet for our pleistocene forerunners is still ‘cave men’. It gives the impression that they were as completely dependent on Nature’s bounty for shelter as for food. And of course that impression was originally intended by archaeologists themselves. Most remains of middle and upper palaeolithic cultures were, and still are being, collected from caves. Other sites that yielded similar relics have been designated ‘open stations’, with the inevitable, if not deliberate, implication of the absence of any shelter. Yet from many caves there have long been known engravings or paintings that seem to represent tents or more substantial structures and that have been designated ‘tectiforms’ for this very reason. Not all prehistorians accept this obvious interpretation, and few of those who do have realized its significance. Perhaps they were waiting with proper scientific caution for monumental evidence.

Such evidence is now available in plenty. But as it is mostly published in Russian, and badly at that, it has not been at all widely appreciated. Yet the construction of dwellings twenty thousand or more years ago is so striking a fact in cultural history as to justify a summary of the rather inaccessible accounts that have appeared.

Physical remains of the simple tent-like structures inferred from the commoner tectiforms have been identified at Gagarino and Kostienki on the Don in the Ukraine and at Mal’ta and Buryet on the Angara in Siberia. At Gagarino the ‘hut foundation’ was an irregular saucer-shaped excavation in the löss, nowhere more than .50 m. deep, and measuring some 5.50 by 4.50 m. across. A silo trench, dug by peasants, that had originally revealed the archaeological deposit, had cut right through its centre along the major axis thus presumably destroying the hearth and the entrance. Little evidence for the superstructure was left, but Zamyatnin noticed large slabs of stone and mammoth tusks lying near the margins of the depression. This dwelling was occupied by Gravettian mammoth-hunters as was a similar one subsequently discovered at Kostienki below the large ‘communal house’ to be discussed later.
Flint Tools and their makers
Authors: Humphreys Humphrey
Published: August 2016

[It should be observed that the Milankovich Chronology, the alternation of core and flake cultures, and the association of flake-tools with Neanderthaloid types and of bifaces with Homo Supiens are all very much in question at the present time. But subject to this qualification, the figures here printed may give some sort of approximation to the length of the periods covered. EDITOR].

Our knowledge of man's ancestry and of the early phases of his own existence can only be increased by new discoveries of flint tools and fossil man in association. Such finds have been very rare because industrial excavations like gravel pits, which might yield the evidence if carefully watched by skilled observers, do in fact destroy it. The unearthing of the Swanscombe skull in 1935 shows what might happen if the ability to recognise flint forms became more widespread and it therefore seems worth while to give a popular summary of our present knowledge.
Archaeology and the Transmission of Ideas
Authors: Wheeler Mortimer
Published: August 2016

This lecture was written on shipboard in an untidy sea, and, if its matter and its T sentiment pitch and toss a trifle, you may properly expect me, as an archaeologist, to blame environment. I belong in fact to a generation of students who have learned to make something of a fetish of environment, even at the expense of forgetting occasionally the extent to which we are the authors of that same environment. It is not difficult to think of examples where mankind has created a desert and called it civilization; and when in the long run the desert wins, as is its habit, we once again short-circuit logic and arraign environment.
Ploughing and Field Shape
Authors: Nightingale Michael
Published: August 2016

The French scholar, Marc Bloch, describes two open field systems in France; the one with long narrow strips grouped in furlongs and ploughed by a long wheeled plough la charrue, the other with small rectangular plots ploughed by a short wheel-less plough, l'araire. R. G. Collingwood has taken up Marc Bloch by suggesting that in England, in Romano-British times, the charrue (carnea) was used on the Villa farms, whilst the araire (aratrum) was employed in the small plots of the villagers, the so-called ‘Celtic Fields’. He further suggests that the Celtic Fields were enclosures.
Fire and the Sword: the Technique of Destruction
Authors: Gordon D. H.
Published: August 2016

In the course of excavation, diggers at many sites come upon a layer in the accumulated debris having such a considerable ash content as to convince them that the settlement occupying the site at that particular period had been destroyed by fire; and this supposition is of course strengthened if the ceramic forms or other cultural objects contained in the mound change at this point. While in very many instances these deductions are probably correct, it is the purpose of this paper to examine what destruction by fire entails in the way of preparation, how it is affected by the style of structures involved and whether the total destruction of villages by fire or their inhabitants by the sword is as simple a procedure as would sometimes appear to be imagined. Having taken part in the destruction by fire of a number of villages of the type that obtains, and must have obtained for centuries past, in the Indo-Afghan borderlands, I have learned by experience that the casual application of a torch will not necessarily set fire to anything.
Recent Discoveries in East African Archaeology
Authors: Mathew Gervase
Published: August 2016

Since 1947 there has been a considerable advance in East African Archaeology. The preliminary archaeological survey of the East African coastline and islands has been almost completed. The area covered has stretched from the coast of British Somaliland to the frontiers of Portuguese East Africa ; two stretches of the Tanganyika coast and the Mafia group of islands off the mouth of the Rufiji still remain unsurveyed, but it is hoped that these may be covered by the close of 1954. It has been essentially a surface survey, a fairly complete photographic record has been made of the principal sites, and plans have been made of some of the chief monuments. During the same period Mr Kirkman has carried out excavations at the very representative Gedi site, and his detailed report is about to be published by the Oxford University Press. At seven other sites there have been preliminary excavations. It is at last possible to suggest a few tentative conclusions.
Hogback Tombstones and the Anglo-Danish House
Authors: Walton James
Published: August 2016

In a number of publications W. G. Collingwood has described the north country hogbacks and he has suggested that they were replicas in stone of the dwellings prevailing at the time among the people responsible for their erection. He was primarily concerned, however, with their development and dating, based upon the ornament employed. In this paper I have concentrated rather on the hogback as a representation of an Anglo-Danish house and its bearing on the origin of cruck construction.

The hogback is a recumbent tombstone in the form of a long, low house with a roofridge slightly arched lengthwise. Its ground plan (FIG. I, D) is bomb6 in shape, affording a plan which has only rarely been revealed by excavation. From Glendarragh, The Braaid, Isle of Man, Fleure and Dunlop have described two alignments which they consider represented the side walls of a boat-shaped house (FIG. I, A). These, they contend, were built of more durable materials to provide a stronger construction whilst the gable walls, which contained the entrances, were probably built of wattle. This is supported by the evidence of the hogbacks which show low stone ground-walls at the sides only and the walls at The Braaid are probably survivals of similar ground-walls. Fleure and Dunlop compare it to the ‘banqueting hall’ of Hofstaoir, Mývatn, in northern Iceland, which is 118 feet long and has incurved stone side walls varying from 19½ feet, at the ends, to 26 feet, in the middle, apart (FIG. I, B).
Tools Makyth Man
Authors: Oakley Kenneth
Published: August 2016

Benjamin Franklin appears to have been the first to call Man the ‘tool-making animal’ while Thomas Carlyle in Sartor Resartus (1833)declared : ‘Without tools he is nothing.’ In pre-Darwinian days the definition of Man was no more than philosophical exercise. That Man might have evolved from lower animals was in the minds of very few people in those days. Certainly the question of how to draw a boundary between pre-human and human had not yet become a practical issue. Even the conception that Man had a long unrecorded past had barely taken root a hundred years ago, although the seeds of the idea had been sown by a few men far ahead of their time, such as Isaac de la Peyrère, who published a book in Pans in 1655 on Primi Nomines ante Adamum, and John Frere whose discovery of flint tools in brickearths at Home in Suffolk led him to infer in 1797 that they had been ‘ used by a people who had not the use of metals ’, and ‘ belonged to a very ancient period indeed, even before that of the present world ’.
Olduvai Gorge and Human Origins
Authors: Napier J. R. , Weiner J. S.
Published: August 2016

Nearly two years have passed since Dr L.S.B. Leakey announced the first of a series of remarkable discoveries at Olduvai Gorge, Tanganyika. The great importance of this region as a palaeontological hunting ground has been appreciated since 1911 when, by chance, a German entomologist picked up a number of fossil bones which had been eroded on to the surface of the slopes of this East African Pleistocene canyon. Since 1931 Dr Leakey has made repeated visits to the Gorge where steadily he has been building up the evidence of an early stone-age cultural sequence.

In July, 1959, Dr and Mrs Leakey discovered a hominid skull which was lying partly exposed on the slopes, 22 ft. below the upper limit of Bed I, the lowest stratum of the Pleistocene sequence at Olduvai. Excavation of the site revealed that the skull was fragmented but almost complete and was lying on a living floor containing tools of a recognized culture (Oldowan) as well as waste flakes and unworked stones, all foreign to the site; in addition there were a number of broken and splintered bones of small animals which had apparently constituted part of the diet of the incumbents. Subsequently, a tibia and fibula were recovered from the same living floor. Dr Leakey named the skull Zinjanthropus boisei (PLATE x (a)). During 1960, excavations were started at a slightly lower level of Bed I and in December, 1960, Dr Leakey reported the discovery of a number of adult and juvenile bones of the hand and foot, two clavicles and some skull (parietal) fragments. This was rapidly followed by the important discovery of a juvenile mandible from the same level (PLATE XI). A number of stone artifacts of an Oldowan culture have also come to light from the juvenile site.
Heads and Hoofs
Authors: Piggott Stuart
Published: August 2016

A few years ago Professor Ole Klindt-Jensen, in publishing the results of his excavations of Migration Period sites on the island of Bornholm, described a remarkable find from the Sorte Muld settlement. Here, just outside the entrance to Building II, was a small pit containing the skull of a horse, its severed fore-legs, and a pelvic bone, accompanied by a few bones of sheep, pig and dog, and sherds which dated the pit to the main occupation phase of the site, in the 5th century A.D.(FIG. 2, 1).
Civitas—A Myth?
Authors: Frere Sheppard
Published: August 2016

Mr J. C. MANN holds that ‘each civitas of Gaul (and of Britain) was presumably a city, and like all true cities, each will have consisted of a single physical city surrounded by its territorium, the whole under the control of its magistrates, council and assembly, the last no doubt usually of little importance.’ I, on the other hand, following Jullian and Stevens, have suggested that the civitas was the whole tribal area, its capital (caput) normally ranking merely as a vicus where the government happened to have its seat. This, Mr Mann suggests, is a myth, which he doubts whether a Roman lawyer would understand.

The evidence admittedly is not all that it might be; yet as the question is important for a correct understanding of the development of local government in Roman Britain (and elsewhere), I may venture to take it up once more, especially as Mr Mann’s note appears to me to be erroneous in one or two particulars, and to exhibit the triple weaknesses of a too narrowly legalistic outlook, an inadequate account of historical development, and a neglect of some of the relevant facts.
Across the Northe Sea: A Review
Authors: Megaw J. V. S.
Published: August 2016

Exactly three centuries ago last year, Johan Picardt, parson of Coevorder in Drenthe and Adviser for Land-Reclamation, wrote in a regional study worthy of comparison with his contemporary John Aubrey’s Monumenta Britannica: ‘Our fore-fathers had not pen, ink, nor paper, which had they possessed would have enabled us to learn of strange things. Howsomever, they have bequeathed us signs enough if only it were that we could read them.’ Each one of the three volumes from the second of which my quotation comes clearly shows the ways in which archaeological research in the Low Countries has vindicated Picardt’s statement. Today archaeology in the Netherlands is a matter of exemplary close-knit co-operation between State institutions, universities, local societies, and the private individual, while recently Belgium has taken important steps in the systemization of pre- and protohistoric studies.

Although the Low Countries can hardly be regarded as a primary area of development, their coastal position at the north-western limit of the transcontinental routes has made them a cultural entrepôt of particular significance for the British archaeologist. In this context Professor De Laet’s book in the ‘Ancient Peoples and Places’ series is all the more welcome in that it is the first English summary of the pre-Roman archaeology of the region.

De Voorgeschiedenis der Lage Landen is a much expanded and corrected version of De Laet’s volume, with Professor Glasbergen’s collaboration giving a more balanced account of the Dutch evidence. The third book, a double volume of Antiquity and Survival, offers a lavishly illustrated symposium of one hundred centuries of the Netherlands, and although the promised English language edition is not to be, the Trustees of the Prince Bernhard Foundation and the Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek are to be warmly thanked for giving their support to Honderd Eeuwen Nederland.
Prehistoric Salt-Boiling
Authors: Riehm Karl
Published: August 2016

Just over sfty years ago the puzzling Red Hills on the coast of Essex were arousing considerable interest among English prehistorians (PLATE XXII (a) and (b)). Already in the spring of 1906, under the chairmanship of J. Chalkley Gould and supported by the Essex Field Club, the Society of Antiquaries of London had formed a ‘Red Hills Exploration Committee’, which counted among its members not only archaeologists but also geologists, botanists and chemists, and had ample means at its disposal. Eminent specialists and scholars examined suitable hills with the utmost care and published their findings and conclusions in comprehensive papers.

But in what consists the peculiarity and the riddle of these Red Hills, which obviously date back to prehistoric times and have since time immemorial lain in close proximity to the coast of England? The striking way in which they are built of loose red burnt clay unmistakably points to a human-made origin. As a rule these mounds rise by only as much as 18 in. to 6 ft. above their surroundings, and their extent varies between a few square yards to several hundred. How did these numerous and extensive heaps of burnt clay come about in prehistoric times?
The Cave of San Bartolomeo, Sardinia
Authors: Atzeni Enrico
Published: August 2016

The results of the research carried out in these last years by the Istituto di Antichità Sarde e di Paletnologia of Cagliari University, particularly in Southern Sardinia, enable us to make a new and useful analysis of the stratigraphy of the cave of S. Bartolomeo, discovered and excavated by Orsoni in 1878 on the limestone promontory of Cape St. Elia at Cagliari, and re-explored by Patroni in 1901.

The cave, as Childe has already pointed out, is the only place in Sardinia which up till now has provided the possibility of stratigraphical observations which (though still under discussion) nevertheless provide us with some reliable and objective data concerning the prehistoric cultures of pre-nuraghic date.

Orsoni found a cavity measuring 5 m. × 4, completely filled from the roof to its rocky floor by an ancient deposit containing human and animal remains. The upper strata of this deposit were largely disturbed by modern graves, contained in a ditch walled in by ‘stones cemented with reddish mud’—and without any grave goods.
History in Art
Authors: Petrie Flinders
Published: August 2016

When we look at the great diversity of man’s activities and interests, it is evident how much space they afford for reviewing his history in many different ways. To most of our historians the view of the political power and course of legislation has seemed all that need be noticed; others have dealt with history in religion, or the growth of mind in changes of moral standards, as in Lecky’s fine work. In recent years the history of knowledge in medicine, in the applied sciences, and in abstract mathematics, has been profitably studied, as affording the basis of civilization. The purely mental view is shown in the social life and customs of each age, and expressed in the growth of Art. This last expression of man’s spirit has great advantages in its presentation; the material from different ages is of a comparable nature, and it is easily placed together to contrast its differences. Moreover it covers a wider range of time than we can et observe in man’s scope, but it is as essential to his nature as any of the other aspects that we have named.
Grimsditch and Cuthwulf's Expedition to the Chilterns in A.D. 571
Authors: Hughes Michael W.
Published: August 2016

In its original form this paper was prefaced with an account, painfully extracted from the somewhat unsatisfactory descriptions in the Historical Monuments Commission’s volumes for Herts and South Bucks and in the Victoria County History, of the existing portions of the earthwork with which I proposed to deal. For the South Oxfordshire Grimsditch, which I ventured to associate with the continuous work which runs through Herts and Bucks, I relied upon Plot and Burn, and some of the original documents used by the latter.

As readers of ANTIQUITY are already aware, the Editor, moved by the conviction that the earnest seeker after truth in this field at least deserved to be supplied with the facts, has during the past two years personally investigated the whole of the remaining fragments of earthworks in the district, and I am therefore able to refer to his paper in the June number, and to the map which he has compiled to illustrate this paper as well as his own, as furnishing a succinct and authoritative statement of the main features of the Chiltern Grimsditch, by which my arguments stand or fall.
The Gods of Phoenicia as revealed by the Poem of Ras Shamra
Authors: Virolleaud Ch.
Published: August 2016

Readers of ANTIQUITY are already aware that the second campaign at Ras Shamra—that of the spring of 1930—brought to light several new Phoenician texts. Amongst these pride of place must be given to ten fragments representing in all about a thousand lines of a kind of epic poem, whose various scenes are all laid in the world of the gods. The fragmentary state of the poem increases the difficulties of interpretation, which in any case would have been considerable ; nevertheless, by means of the careful analysis of certain episodes we can now form some sort of general conception of Phoenician mythology as it was about the time of the Ramessids and Amenophis (c. 16th-13th cent. B.c.). In the present article I propose to give a summary account of the results of my researches in this direction.

The gods and goddesses thus brought to life again are more than fifty in number. But two stand out from amongst the rest, and these two are precisely those whom one would expect to find holding higher rank in a document emanating from Phoenicia-El and Baal.
The Linear A Question
Authors: Pope Maurice
Published: August 2016

Dr gordon has, in my opinion, not begun to prove his case and it is difficult to know where to begin its refutation. In at least one major respect the two articles he has written in ANTIQUITY disagree with each other. In the first article (ANTIQUITY XXXI, 124) the frequent sign L 98 was taken (on the basis of the similarity of the Linear B sign) to represent ku or gu. With the help of this value three words have been recognized as Semitic. But in the second article (ANTIQUITY XXXI, 237) the value of the sign is stated as an unknown ‘X’, and then, in order to make it possible to identify a word for ‘cumulative total’ as the Akkadian kitmuru, it is allotted the sound mu. We are not told what we must now think of two other words previously identified on the assumption that the sign stood for ku. Nor is it made clear on what grounds one may pick and choose among the phonetic values of the Linear B signs. L 98 is certainly the same sign as the Linear B 81 ku; L 22 is the same sign as the Linear B 2 ro. Why are we justified in assuming that the one phonetic value is transferable and not the other? This point is quite fundamental in any attempt to decipher Linear A by using the Linear B phonetic values, but Gordon ignores it completely. And not only here. By identifying the supposed word for ‘cumulative total℉ as kitmuru, he commits himself to the value ki for the first sign L 21. As this sign hardly, if ever, occurs elsewhere he cannot check his assumption, though it compels him to alter the value of L 103 (= Linear B 67 ki) to ku (para. 6, p. 239). Allotting the value tu to L 39 in the same word leads to a similar difficulty, since the value tu is already occupied by L 6 (accepted by Gordon in the first article, para. 10).
The Plastic People of the Universe and Utopian Performance in Tom Stoppard's Rock ‘n’ Roll
Authors: Hanson Kelly
Published: August 2016

Tom Stoppard's 2006 play Rock ‘n’ Roll revolves around the story of the Plastic People of the Universe (1968–88), an underground Czech rock band best known in the United States for their connections to Václav Havel and possibly for their ties to the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the fall of communism in the Eastern bloc. Often tangentially referred to in progressive Western journalism, the Plastic People have come to signify a kind of subcultural capital for mainstream bourgeois writers, a way for moderate Western liberals to appear edgy and cultured. Stoppard's play draws on this popular consumption of the Plastic People, fetishizing them both for their grungy, underground lifestyle and for their status as underground rock legends. After all, the play seems to ask, how many rock bands can claim to have started an actual revolution? The play's twin narratives dramatize the clash between rock music and philosophical Marxism in Cambridge and Prague from 1968 to 1990. The stories are linked through the protagonist, Jan, a Czech intellectual who abandons his studies at Cambridge to return to Czechoslovakia in the wake of the Soviet invasion of 1968. He is determined to “save” rock music, socialism, and his mother. Jan soon discovers the Plastic People of the Universe, whose music he holds up as a positive ray of light in the dreary decades preceding the Velvet Revolution. Placing the Plastics’ music and story alongside the work of male rock megastars such as the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, the Beach Boys, and Bob Dylan, Stoppard celebrates the Plastic People as a band that preserves the revolutionary roots of rock music.
Learned Connections
Authors: Carter Aaron
Published: August 2016

For the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons at Steppenwolf Theatre I edited a series of essays we called First Person. These essays appeared in our program and were personal reflections on the plays in production at the theatre. When I was asked to write for Theatre Survey about “how theatre can change lives and impact underserved communities,” I thought of that essay series, now on hiatus. Anecdotal evidence informed me that people in our audiences emotionally responded to the series, just as they often emotionally responded to our plays. But does eliciting an emotional response rise to the level of “chang[ing] lives?” I suspect not, especially if that notion of change is meant to be on a par with “impact[ing] underserved communities.”
Can Theatre Change Lives and Impact Underserved Communities?
Authors: Bell John
Published: August 2016

It is hard to say if and how the experience of theatre might change lives or serve a community. Has theatre ever done so? Thinking of the effects of contemporary possibilities of ritual performance—a lifetime attending Catholic mass, yearly pilgrimages to Burning Man festivals or Disney World, an annual subscription to a regional theatre season, yearly participation in Mardi Gras, habitual involvement in political demonstrations, attending Red Sox games every season, following the Grateful Dead for years, or regular exposure to wayang kulit shadow-puppet shows in a Javanese village—one imagines that it's not so much that change takes place but that existing values are reinforced and community and personal identity are confirmed in live, shared experience. The live, in-time realization during a Donald Trump rally that one is not alone in feeling rebuffed and abused and that enemies can be identified, named, and vilified in a collective catharsis might change a life in the sense that both buried fears and suspicions and hopes for a “better” future might just be realized (in this case through the embrace of an authoritarian, if not fascist, spirit). This kind of transformation is not so much a doorway to change—a new direction—as it is a confirmation of convictions already deeply held.
Art Is the Antidote
Authors: Lasko Jim
Published: August 2016

No matter the precise definition, whether it includes beauty and imagination or even the creation of an identifiable artifact, art has long been a measure of the health of any given civilization or epoch.
Classroom-based L2 vocabulary learning and comprehension: Replications of Lesaux, Kieffer, Faller & Kelley (2010)
Authors: Durgunoğlu Aydin Yücesan , Bigelow Martha
Published: August 2016

The field of language teaching and learning is in dire need of replications of vocabulary and comprehension research with diverse populations of learners. We propose for replication one large-scale vocabulary intervention carried out successfully in a middle-school with monolingual and multilingual students. This study was carried out several years ago, was published in theReading Research Quarterly, and has been generously cited since then. The findings and the instruments from this study have been leveraged in subsequent extension studies by the same group of researchers, but have not been replicated in different contexts. We offer multiple reasons and methods of replicating this study in high school and adult contexts in which there is a serious need for learners to comprehend technical or academic materials using deep, nuanced foundations of vocabulary.
Phytochrome B and REVEILLE1/2-mediated signalling controls seed dormancy and germination in Arabidopsis
Authors: Jiang Zhimin , Xu Gang , Jing Yanjun , Tang Weijiang , Lin Rongcheng
Published: August 2016

Seeds maintain a dormant state to withstand adverse conditions and germinate when conditions become favourable to give rise to a new generation of flowering plants. Seed dormancy and germination are tightly controlled by internal and external signals. Although phytochrome photoreceptors are proposed to regulate primary seed dormancy, the underlying molecular mechanism remains elusive. Here we show that the REVEILLE1 (RVE1) and RVE2 transcription factors promote primary seed dormancy and repress red/far-red-light-reversible germination downstream of phytochrome B (phyB) in Arabidopsis thaliana. RVE1 and RVE2 expression is downregulated after imbibition and by phyB. RVE1 directly binds to the promoter of GIBBERELLIN 3-OXIDASE 2, inhibits its transcription and thus suppresses the biosynthesis of bioactive gibberellins. In addition, DELAY OF GERMINATION 1 also acts downstream of phyB. This study identifies a signalling pathway that integrates environmental light input with internal factors to control both seed dormancy and germination.
Taming contact line instability for pattern formation
Authors: Deblais A. , Harich R. , Colin A. , Kellay H.
Published: August 2016

Coating surfaces with different fluids is prone to instability producing inhomogeneous films and patterns. The contact line between the coating fluid and the surface to be coated is host to different instabilities, limiting the use of a variety of coating techniques. Here we take advantage of the instability of a receding contact line towards cusp and droplet formation to produce linear patterns of variable spacings. We stabilize the instability of the cusps towards droplet formation by using polymer solutions that inhibit this secondary instability and give rise to long slender cylindrical filaments. We vary the speed of deposition to change the spacing between these filaments. The combination of the two gives rise to linear patterns into which different colloidal particles can be embedded, long DNA molecules can be stretched and particles filtered by size. The technique is therefore suitable to prepare anisotropic structures with variable properties.
A Dynamical Analysis of the Suitability of Prehistoric Spheroids from the Cave of Hearths as Thrown Projectiles
Authors: Wilson Andrew D. , Zhu Qin , Barham Lawrence , Stanistreet Ian , Bingham Geoffrey P.
Published: August 2016

Spheroids are ball-shaped stone objects found in African archaeological sites dating from 1.8 million years ago (Early Stone Age) to at least 70,000 years ago (Middle Stone Age). Spheroids are either fabricated or naturally shaped stones selected and transported to places of use making them one of the longest-used technologies on record. Most hypotheses about their use suggest they were percussive tools for shaping or grinding other materials. However, their size and spherical shape make them potentially useful as projectile weapons, a property that, uniquely, humans have been specialised to exploit for millions of years. Here we show (using simulations of projectile motions resulting from human throwing) that 81% of a sample of spheroids from the late Acheulean (Bed 3) at the Cave of Hearths, South Africa afford being thrown so as to inflict worthwhile damage to a medium-sized animal over distances up to 25 m. Most of the objects have weights that produce optimal levels of damage from throwing, rather than simply being as heavy as possible (as would suit other functions). Our results show that these objects were eminently suitable for throwing, and demonstrate how empirical research on behavioural tasks can inform and constrain our theories about prehistoric artefacts.
High density genome wide genotyping-by-sequencing and association identifies common and low frequency SNPs, and novel candidate genes influencing cow milk traits
Authors: Ibeagha-Awemu Eveline M. , Peters Sunday O. , Akwanji Kingsley A. , Imumorin Ikhide G. , Zhao Xin
Published: August 2016

High-throughput sequencing technologies have increased the ability to detect sequence variations for complex trait improvement. A high throughput genome wide genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) method was used to generate 515,787 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), from which 76,355 SNPs with call rates >85% and minor allele frequency ≥1.5% were used in genome wide association study (GWAS) of 44 milk traits in 1,246 Canadian Holstein cows. GWAS was accomplished with a mixed linear model procedure implementing the additive and dominant models. A strong signal within the centromeric region of bovine chromosome 14 was associated with test day fat percentage. Several SNPs were associated with eicosapentaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, arachidonic acid, CLA:9c11t and gamma linolenic acid. Most of the significant SNPs for 44 traits studied are novel and located in intergenic regions or introns of genes. Novel potential candidate genes for milk traits or mammary gland functions include ERCC6, TONSL, NPAS2, ACER3, ITGB4, GGT6, ACOX3, MECR, ADAM12, ACHE, LRRC14, FUK, NPRL3, EVL, SLCO3A1, PSMA4, FTO, ADCK5, PP1R16A and TEP1. Our study further demonstrates the utility of the GBS approach for identifying population-specific SNPs for use in improvement of complex dairy traits.
Optical characterization of Tm3+ doped Bi2O3-GeO2-Ga2O3 glasses in absence and presence of BaF2
Authors: Han Kexuan , Zhang Peng , Wang Shunbin , Guo Yanyan , Zhou Dechun , Yu Fengxia
Published: August 2016

In this paper, Two new Bi2O3-GeO2-Ga2O3 glasses (one presence of BaF2) doped with 1mol% Tm2O3 were prepared by melt-quenching technique. Differential thermal analysis (DTA), the absorption, Raman, IR spectra and fluorescence spectra were measured. The Judd–Ofelt intensity parameters, emission cross section, absorption cross section, and gain coefficient of Tm3+ ions were comparatively investigated. After the BaF2 introduced, the glass showed a better thermal stability, lower phonon energy and weaker OH− absorption coefficient, meanwhile, a larger ~1.8 μm emission cross section σem (7.56 × 10−21 cm2) and a longer fluorescence lifetime τmea (2.25 ms) corresponding to the Tm3+: 4F3 → 3H6 transition were obtained, which is due to the addition of fluoride in glass could reduce the quenching rate of hydroxyls and raise the cross-relaxation (3H6 + 3H4 → 3F4 + 3F4) rate. Our results suggest that the Tm3+ doped Bi2O3-GeO2-Ga2O3 glass with BaF2 might be potential to the application in efficient ~1.8 μm lasers system.
Wafer-scale high-resolution patterning of reduced graphene oxide films for detection of low concentration biomarkers in plasma
Authors: Kim Jinsik , Chae Myung-Sic , Lee Sung Min , Jeong Dahye , Lee Byung Chul , Lee Jeong Hoon , Kim YoungSoo , Chang Suk Tai , Hwang Kyo Seon
Published: August 2016

Given that reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-based biosensors allow disposable and repeatable biomarker detection at the point of care, we developed a wafer-scale rGO patterning method with mass productivity, uniformity, and high resolution by conventional micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) techniques. Various rGO patterns were demonstrated with dimensions ranging from 5 μm up to several hundred μm. Manufacture of these patterns was accomplished through the optimization of dry etching conditions. The axis-homogeneity and uniformity were also measured to verify the uniform patternability in 4-inch wafer with dry etching. Over 66.2% of uniform rGO patterns, which have deviation of resistance within range of ±10%, formed the entire wafer. We selected amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides in the plasma of APP/PS1 transgenic mice as a study model and measured the peptide level by resistance changes of highly uniform rGO biosensor arrays. Aβ is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease and its plasma concentration is in the pg mL−1 range. The sensor detected the Aβ peptides with ultra-high sensitivity; the LOD was at levels as low as 100 fg mL−1. Our results provide biological evidences that this wafer-scale high-resolution patterning method can be used in rGO-based electrical diagnostic devices for detection of low-level protein biomarkers in biofluids.
Systematic assessment of pharmaceutical prescriptions in association with cancer risk: a method to conduct a population-wide medication-wide longitudinal study
Authors: Patel Chirag J. , Ji Jianguang , Sundquist Jan , Ioannidis John P. A. , Sundquist Kristina
Published: August 2016

It is a public health priority to identify the adverse and non-adverse associations between pharmaceutical medications and cancer. We search for and evaluate associations between all prescribed medications and longitudinal cancer risk in participants of the Swedish Cancer Register (N = 9,014,975). We associated 552 different medications with incident cancer risk (any, breast, colon and prostate) during 5.5 years of follow-up (7/1/2005-12/31/2010) in two types of statistical models, time-to-event and case-crossover. After multiple hypotheses correction and replication, 141 (26%) drugs were associated with any cancer in a time-to-event analysis constraining drug exposure to 1 year before first cancer diagnosis and adjusting for history of medication use. In a case-crossover analysis, 36 drugs (7%) were associated with decreased cancer risk. 12 drugs were found in common in both analyses with concordant direction of association. We found 14, 10, 7% of all drugs associated with colon, prostate and breast cancers in time-to-event models. We only found 1, 2% and 0% for these cancers, respectively, in case-crossover analyses. Pharmacoepidemiologic analyses of cancer risk are sensitive to modeling choices and false-positive findings are a threat. Medication-wide analyses using different analytical models may help suggest consistent signals of increased cancer risk.
Topological spin and valley pumping in silicene
Authors: Luo Wei , Sheng L. , Wang B. G. , Xing D. Y.
Published: August 2016

We propose to realize adiabatic topological spin and valley pumping by using silicene, subject to the modulation of an in-plane ac electric field with amplitude Ey and a vertical electric field consisting of an electrostatic component and an ac component with amplitudes "Equation missing" and "Equation missing". By tuning "Equation missing" and "Equation missing", topological valley pumping or spin-valley pumping can be achieved. The low-noise valley and spin currents generated can be useful in valleytronic and spintronic applications. Our work also demonstrates that bulk topological spin or valley pumping is a general characteristic effect of two-dimensional topological insulators, irrelevant to the edge state physics.
Interaction of Staphylococcus aureus persister cells with the host when in a persister state and following awakening
Authors: Mina Elin G. , Marques Cláudia N. H.
Published: August 2016

Persister cells, a tolerant cell sub-population, are commonly associated with chronic and recurrent infections. However, little is known about their ability to actually initiate or establish an infection, become virulent and cause pathogenicity within a host. Here we investigated whether Staphylococcus aureus persister cells initiate an infection and are recognized by macrophages, while in a persister cell status and upon awakening due to exposure to cis-2-decenoic acid (cis-DA). Our results show that S. aureus persister cells are not able to initiate infections in A. thaliana and present significantly reduced virulence towards C. elegans compared to total populations. In contrast, awakened S. aureus persister cells are able to initiate infections in A. thaliana and in C. elegans albeit, with lower mortality than total population. Furthermore, exposure of S. aureus persister cells to cis-DA led to a loss of tolerance to ciprofloxacin and an increase of the bacterial fluorescence to levels found in total population. In addition, macrophage engulfment of persister cells was significantly lower than engulfment of total population, both before and following awakening. Overall our findings indicate that upon awakening of a persister population the cells regain their ability to infect hosts despite the absence of an increased immune response.
A Quick-responsive DNA Nanotechnology Device for Bio-molecular Homeostasis Regulation
Authors: Wu Songlin , Wang Pei , Xiao Chen , Li Zheng , Yang Bing , Fu Jieyang , Chen Jing , Wan Neng , Ma Cong , Li Maoteng , Yang Xiangliang , Zhan Yi
Published: August 2016

Physiological processes such as metabolism, cell apoptosis and immune responses, must be strictly regulated to maintain their homeostasis and achieve their normal physiological functions. The speed with which bio-molecular homeostatic regulation occurs directly determines the ability of an organism to adapt to conditional changes. To produce a quick-responsive regulatory system that can be easily utilized for various types of homeostasis, a device called nano-fingers that facilitates the regulation of physiological processes was constructed using DNA origami nanotechnology. This nano-fingers device functioned in linked open and closed phases using two types of DNA tweezers, which were covalently coupled with aptamers that captured specific molecules when the tweezer arms were sufficiently close. Via this specific interaction mechanism, certain physiological processes could be simultaneously regulated from two directions by capturing one biofactor and releasing the other to enhance the regulatory capacity of the device. To validate the universal application of this device, regulation of the homeostasis of the blood coagulant thrombin was attempted using the nano-fingers device. It was successfully demonstrated that this nano-fingers device achieved coagulation buffering upon the input of fuel DNA. This nano-device could also be utilized to regulate the homeostasis of other types of bio-molecules.
Blood-borne miRNA profile-based diagnostic classifier for lung adenocarcinoma
Authors: Tai Mei Chee , Yanagisawa Kiyoshi , Nakatochi Masahiro , Hotta Naoe , Hosono Yasuyuki , Kawaguchi Koji , Naito Mariko , Taniguchi Hiroyuki , Wakai Kenji , Yokoi Kohei , Takahashi Takashi
Published: August 2016

Accumulated evidence indicates that various types of miRNA are aberrantly expressed in lung cancer and secreted into the bloodstream. For this study, we constructed a serum diagnostic classifier based on detailed bioinformatics analysis of miRNA profiles from a training cohort of 143 lung adenocarcinoma patients and 49 healthy subjects, resulting in a 20 miRNA-based classifier. Validation performed with an independent cohort of samples from lung adenocarcinoma patients (n = 110), healthy subjects (n = 52) and benign pulmonary disease patients (n = 47) showed a sensitivity of 89.1% and specificity of 94.9%, with an area under the curve value of 0.958. Notably, 90.8% of Stage I lung adenocarcinoma cases were correctly diagnosed. Interestingly, this classifier also detected squamous and large cell lung carcinoma cases at relatively high rates (70.4% and 70.0%, respectively), which appears to be consistent with organ site-dependent miRNA expression in cancer tissues. In contrast, we observed significantly lower rates (0–35%) using samples from 96 cases of cancer in other major organs, with breast cancer the lowest. These findings warrant a future study to realize its clinical application as a part of diagnostic procedures for lung cancers, for which early detection and surgical removal is presently the only hope for eventual cure.
Tunneling-injection in vertical quasi-2D heterojunctions enabled efficient and adjustable optoelectronic conversion
Authors: Tan Wei-Chun , Chiang Chia-Wei , Hofmann Mario , Chen Yang-Fang
Published: August 2016

The advent of 2D materials integration has enabled novel heterojunctions where carrier transport proceeds thrsough different ultrathin layers. We here demonstrate the potential of such heterojunctions on a graphene/dielectric/semiconductor vertical stack that combines several enabling features for optoelectronic devices. Efficient and stable light emission was achieved through carrier tunneling from the graphene injector into prominent states of a luminescent material. Graphene’s unique properties enable fine control of the band alignment in the heterojunction. This advantage was used to produce vertical tunneling-injection light-emitting transistors (VtiLET) where gating allows adjustment of the light emission intensity independent of applied bias. This device was shown to simultaneously act as a light detecting transistor with a linear and gate tunable sensitivity. The presented development of an electronically controllable multifunctional light emitter, light detector and transistor open up a new route for future optoelectronics.
A fully disposable paper-based electrophoresis microchip with integrated pencil-drawn electrodes for contactless conductivity detection
Authors: Chagas Cyro L. S. , de Souza Fabrício R. , Cardoso Thiago M. G. , Moreira Roger C. , da Silva José A. F. , de Jesus Dosil P. , Coltro Wendell K. T.
Published: August 2016

We describe the development of a paper electrophoresis chip integrated with pencil electrodes for contactless conductivity detection and its application in the separation of biomolecules associated with kidney dysfunctions.
Aptamer-based FRET nanoflares for imaging potassium ions in living cells
Authors: Yang Yanjing , Huang Jin , Yang Xiaohai , Quan Ke , Xie Nuli , Ou Min , Tang Jinlu , Wang Kemin
Published: August 2016

Due to the effective properties of the FRET signal and K+-sensitive recognition of G-quadruplex, aptamer-based FRET nanoflares were developed to sense intracellular potassium ions.
A matter of meters: state of the art in the life cycle assessment of enhanced geothermal systems
Authors: Menberg Kathrin , Pfister Stephan , Blum Philipp , Bayer Peter
Published: August 2016

This article provides a comprehensive review of the environmental performance of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGSs) with a focus on recent and potential future progress in geothermal drilling.
Design, synthesis and evaluation of cytotoxic properties of bisamino glucosylated antitumor ether lipids against cancer cells and cancer stem cells
Authors: Ogunsina Makanjuola , Samadder Pranati , Idowu Temilolu , Arthur Gilbert , Schweizer Frank
Published: August 2016

Glycosylated antitumor ether lipids (GAELs) are a class of amphiphilic antitumor agents that kill cancer cells by a non-apoptotic pathway.
Glucose oxidase-assisted extraction of resveratrol from Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica)
Authors: Chen Huaguo , Deng Qingfang , Ji Xiuhong , Zhou Xin , Kelly Glen , Zhang Junzeng
Published: August 2016

Glucose oxidase can completely convert resveratrol glycoside into resveratrol, and significantly increase the extraction yield of resveratrol in Japanese knotweed.
A quasi-cyclic RNA nano-scale molecular object constructed using kink turns
Authors: Huang Lin , Lilley David M. J.
Published: August 2016

The k-turn is a powerful building block in the construction of nano-scale molecular objects, exemplified by a quasi-circular six-k-turn object.
Efficient synthesis of pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxalines catalyzed by a Brønsted acid through cleavage of C–C bonds
Authors: Xie Caixia , Feng Lei , Li Wanli , Ma Xiaojun , Ma Xinkun , Liu Yihan , Ma Chen
Published: August 2016

An efficient and convenient one-pot domino reaction for the direct synthesis of pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxalines has been developed. β-Diketones and β-keto esters are well tolerated to give the corresponding products in moderate to excellent yields.
A click strategy for the immobilization of palladium nanoparticles onto silica: efficient and recyclable catalysts for carbon–carbon bond formation under mild reaction conditions
Authors: Hajipour Abdol R. , Abolfathi Parisa , Mohammadsaleh Fatemeh
Published: August 2016

The synthesis of silica-grafted palladium catalyst through “click” reaction of azide-functionalized silica with methylpropargylimidazolium bromide, for Heck and Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions.
Effects of annealing ambient on oxygen vacancies and phase transition temperature of VO2 thin films
Authors: Xu H. Y. , Huang Y. H. , Liu S. , Xu K. W. , Ma F. , Chu Paul K.
Published: August 2016

VO2 thin films are prepared on Si substrates by direct-current (DC) magnetron sputtering at room temperature and annealed in vacuum at different argon pressures.