bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Calendar Age of the Baigetobe Kurgan from the Iron Age Saka Cemetery in Shilikty Valley, Kazakhstan
Authors: Panyushkina Irina P , Slyusarenko Igor Y , Sala Renato , Deom Jean-Marc , Toleubayev Abdesh T 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThis study addresses the development of an absolute chronology for prominent burial sites of Inner Asian nomadic cultures. We investigate Saka archaeological wood from a well-known gold-filled Baigetobe kurgan (burial mound #1 of Shilikty-3 cemetery) to estimate its calendar age using tree-ring and 14C dating. The Saka was the southernmost tribal group of Asian Scythians, who roamed Central Asia during the 1st millennium BC (Iron Age). The Shilikty is a large burial site located in the Altai Mountains along the border between Kazakhstan and China. We present a new floating tree-ring chronology of larch and five new 14C dates from the construction timbers of the Baigetobe kurgan. The results of Bayesian modeling suggest the age of studied timbers is ~730–690 cal BC. This places the kurgan in early Scythian time and authenticates a previously suggested age of the Baigetobe gold collection between the 8th and 7th centuries BC derived from the typology of grave goods and burial rites. Chronologically and stylistically, the Scythian Animal Style gold from the Baigetobe kurgan is closer to Early Scythians in the North Caucasus and Tuva than to the local Saka occurrences in the Kazakh Altai. Our dating results indicate that the Baigetobe kurgan was nearly contemporaneous to the Arjan-2 kurgan (Tuva) and could be one of the earliest kurgans of the Saka-Scythian elite in Central Asia.
The Radiocarbon Approach to Neanderthals in a Carnivore Den Site: a Well-Defined Chronology for Teixoneres Cave (Moià, Barcelona, Spain)
Authors: Talamo Sahra , Blasco Ruth , Rivals Florent , Picin Andrea , Gema Chacón M , Iriarte Eneko , Manuel López-García Juan , Blain Hugues-Alexandre , Arilla Maite , Rufà Anna , Sánchez-Hernández Carlos , Andrés Míriam , Camarós Edgard , Ballesteros Anna , Cebrià Artur , Rosell Jordi , Hublin Jean-Jacques 
Published: January 2016

AbstractDuring the Middle Paleolithic period, carnivores and hominids periodically occupied the same areas at different times and each predator generated significant palimpsests, rendering difficult their archaeological interpretation. Teixoneres Cave, a carnivore den site, located in the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, demonstrates that it is possible to overcome these problems by using a careful strategy in selecting samples for radiocarbon dating, in order to produce an accurate chronology of the site in question and certainly attest the human occupation.
Naturally Dyed Wool and Silk and Their Atomic C:N Ratio for Quality Control of14C Sample Treatment
Authors: Boudin Mathieu , Bonafini Marco , Berghe Ina Vanden , Maquoi Marie-Christine 
Published: January 2016

AbstractQuality control of sample material (e.g. charcoal, collagen) is receiving considerable attention in the effort to obtain more reliable14C dates. The atomic carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio is a useful indicator of contamination and/or degradation of bone collagen. Wool and silk are also composed of proteinaceous material such as bone collagen, and the C:N ratio may also be a useful quality indicator for archaeological wool and silk. Analyses of modern undyed, mordanted, non-mordanted, and naturally dyed silk and wool were done in order to determine a C:N range that indicates the sample quality. The C:N range can be different for every material as the amino acid composition of wool, silk, and bone collagen are distinct. The measured minimum and maximum C:N values were used to set up a C:N range of uncontamined and undegraded wool and silk. Then, the C:N ratio and14C were analyzed of archaeological wool and silk samples. The applicability of the C:N ratio as a quality indicator for archaeological silk and wool was shown by the good agreement of the14C dates with the presumed historical dates for the uncontaminated samples and the disagreement of the14C dates with the presumed historical dates for contaminated samples.
Stable Isotopic Detection of Manual Intervention Among the Faunal Assemblage from a Majiayao Site in NW China
Authors: Dong Weimiao , An Cheng-Bang , Fan Wenjie , Li Hu , Zhao Xueye 
Published: January 2016

AbstractFaunal remains from Shannashuzha in Minxian County, Gansu Province, China were isotopically analyzed to understand animal husbandry, and thus human subsistence strategy, during the Majiayao culture (5200–4800 cal yr BP) period. Stable carbon isotopic results reveal that only two pig samples clearly show a C4-dominated diet with a mean δ13C value of –8.5‰, which possibly indicated controlled feeding practices by human beings. No other significant manual intervention can be observed among the remaining samples, suggesting that both wild and domesticated meat sources were used at Shannashuzha. Statistically, Bos are indistinguishable from Cervidae based solely on isotopic results, suggesting that Bos may have remained in wild form during the Majiayao culture period. The presence of hare/rabbit, bamboo rat, and badger reflects the diversified food exploitation behavior.
AMS14C Dating of Preclassic to Classic Period Household Construction in the Ancient Maya Community of Cahal Pech, Belize
Authors: Ebert Claire E , Culleton Brendan J , Awe Jaime J , Kennett Douglas J 
Published: January 2016

AbstractArchaeologists have traditionally relied upon relative ceramic chronologies to understand the occupational histories of large and socially complex polities in the Maya lowlands. High-resolution accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating can provide independent chronological control for more discrete events that reflect cultural change through time. This article reports results of AMS14C dating of stratified sequences at the residential group Tzutziiy K’in, associated with the major Maya polity of Cahal Pech in the Belize Valley. Cahal Pech is one of the earliest permanently settled sites in the Maya lowlands (1200 cal BC), and was continuously occupied until the Terminal Classic Maya “collapse” (~cal AD 800). We use Bayesian modeling to build a chronology for the settlement, growth, and terminal occupation of Tzutziiy K’in, and compare our results to chronological data from the monumental site core at Cahal Pech. The analyses indicate that Tzutziiy K’in was first settled by the Late Preclassic period (350–100 cal BC), concurrent with the establishment of several other large house groups and the growth of the Cahal Pech site core. Terminal occupation by high-status residents at this house group occurred between cal AD 850 and 900. This study provides a framework for interpreting patterns of spatial, demographic, and sociopolitical change between households and the Cahal Pech site core.
Graphitization of Small Carbonate Samples for Paleoceanographic Research at the Godwin Radiocarbon Laboratory, University of Cambridge
Authors: Freeman E , Skinner L C , Reimer R , Scrivner A , Fallon S 
Published: January 2016

AbstractA new radiocarbon preparation facility was set up in 2010 at the Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research, at the University of Cambridge. Samples are graphitized via hydrogen reduction on an iron powder catalyst before being sent to the Chrono Centre, Belfast, or the Australian National University for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) analysis. The experimental setup and procedure have recently been developed to investigate the potential for running small samples of foraminiferal carbonate. By analyzing background values of samples ranging from 0.04 to 0.6 mg C along with similar sized secondary standards, the setup and experimental procedures were optimized for small samples. “Background” modern 14C contamination has been minimized through careful selection of iron powder, and graphitization has been optimized through the use of “small volume” reactors, allowing samples containing as little as 0.08 mg C to be graphitized and accurately dated. Graphitization efficiency/fractionation is found not to be the main limitation on the analysis of samples smaller than 0.07 mg C, which rather depends primarily on AMS ion beam optics, suggesting further improvements in small sample analysis might yet be achieved with our methodology.
Symbiotic bacteria of helminths: what role may they play in ecosystems under anthropogenic stress?
Authors: Morley N.J. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractSymbiotic bacteria are a common feature of many animals, particularly invertebrates, from both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. These bacteria have increasingly been recognized as performing an important role in maintaining invertebrate health. Both ecto- and endoparasitic helminths have also been found to harbour a range of bacterial species which provide a similar function. The part symbiotic bacteria play in sustaining homeostasis of free-living invertebrates exposed to anthropogenic pressure (climate change, pollution), and the consequences to invertebrate populations when their symbionts succumb to poor environmental conditions, are increasingly important areas of research. Helminths are also susceptible to environmental stress and their symbiotic bacteria may be a key aspect of their responses to deteriorating conditions. This article summarizes the ecophysiological relationship helminths have with symbiotic bacteria and the role they play in maintaining a healthy parasite and the relevance of specific changes that occur in free-living invertebrate–bacteria interactions under anthropogenic pressure to helminths and their bacterial communities. It also discusses the importance of understanding the mechanistic sensitivity of helminth–bacteria relationships to environmental stress for comprehending the responses of parasites to challenging conditions.
The outcome of short- and long-term psychotherapy 10 years after start of treatment
Authors: Knekt P. , Virtala E. , Härkänen T. , Vaarama M. , Lehtonen J. , Lindfors O. 
Published: January 2016

BackgroundEmpirical evidence on whether patients’ mental health and functioning will be more improved after long-term than short-term therapy is scarce. We addressed this question in a clinical trial with a long follow-up.MethodIn the Helsinki Psychotherapy Study, 326 out-patients with mood or anxiety disorder were randomly assigned to long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (LPP), short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (SPP) or solution-focused therapy (SFT) and were followed for 10 years. The outcome measures were psychiatric symptoms, work ability, personality and social functioning, need for treatment, and remission.ResultsAt the end of the follow-up, altogether 74% of the patients were free from clinically elevated psychiatric symptoms. Compared with SPP, LPP showed greater reductions in symptoms, greater improvement in work ability and higher remission rates. A similar difference in symptoms and work ability was observed in comparison with SFT after adjustment for violations of treatment standards. No notable differences in effectiveness between SFT and SPP were observed. The prevalence of auxiliary treatment was relatively high, 47% in SFT, 58% in SPP and 33% in LPP, and, accordingly, the remission rates for general symptoms were 55, 45 and 62%, respectively.ConclusionsAfter 10 years of follow-up, the benefits of LPP in comparison with the short-term therapies are rather small, though significant in symptoms and work ability, possibly due to more frequent use of auxiliary therapy in the short-term therapy groups. Further studies should focus on the choice of optimal length of therapy and the selection of factors predicting outcome of short- v. long-term therapy.
The effects of joint clearance on the dynamics of the 3RRR planar parallel manipulator
Authors: Varedi-Koulaei S. M. , Daniali H. M. , Farajtabar M. 
Published: January 2016

SUMMARYIn reality, clearances in the joints are inevitable due to tolerances, and defects arising from design and manufacturing. Therefore, poor dynamic performance, reduction in components component lifetimes and generation of undesirable vibrations result in impacts of mating parts in the clearance joint. In this study, the dynamic behavior of a planar mechanism with revolute joints, in the presence of clearances is investigated. A continuous contact force model, based on elastic Hertz theory together with a dissipative term, is used to evaluate the contact forces here. Moreover, using a contact model, the effects of working speed and clearance size on the dynamic characteristics of a planar mechanical system are analyzed and compared. Furthermore, numerical results for a 3RRR planar parallel manipulator with six revolute clearance joints are presented.
Understanding the effects of different HIV transmission models in individual-based microsimulation of HIV epidemic dynamics in people who inject drugs
Authors: MONTEIRO J. F. G. , ESCUDERO D. J. , WEINREB C. , FLANIGAN T. , GALEA S. , FRIEDMAN S. R. , MARSHALL B. D. L. 
Published: January 2016

SUMMARYWe investigated how different models of HIV transmission, and assumptions regarding the distribution of unprotected sex and syringe-sharing events (‘risk acts’), affect quantitative understanding of HIV transmission process in people who inject drugs (PWID). The individual-based model simulated HIV transmission in a dynamic sexual and injecting network representing New York City. We constructed four HIV transmission models: model 1, constant probabilities; model 2, random number of sexual and parenteral acts; model 3, viral load individual assigned; and model 4, two groups of partnerships (low and high risk). Overall, models with less heterogeneity were more sensitive to changes in numbers risk acts, producing HIV incidence up to four times higher than that empirically observed. Although all models overestimated HIV incidence, micro-simulations with greater heterogeneity in the HIV transmission modelling process produced more robust results and better reproduced empirical epidemic dynamics.
The development of postinstitutionalized versus parent-reared Russian children as a function of age at placement and family type
Authors: McCall Robert B. , Muhamedrahimov Rifkat J. , Groark Christina J. , Palmov Oleg I. , Nikiforova Natalia V. , Salaway Jennifer , Julian Megan M. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractA total of 149 children, who spent an average of 13.8 months in Russian institutions, were transferred to Russian families of relatives and nonrelatives at an average age of 24.7 months. After residing in these families for at least 1 year (average = 43.2 months), parents reported on their attachment, indiscriminately friendly behavior, social–emotional competencies, problem behaviors, and effortful control when they were 1.5–10.7 years of age. They were compared to a sample of 83 Russian parents of noninstitutionalized children, whom they had reared from birth. Generally, institutionalized children were rated similarly to parent-reared children on most measures, consistent with substantial catch-up growth typically displayed by children after transitioning to families. However, institutionalized children were rated more poorly than parent-reared children on certain competencies in early childhood and some attentional skills. There were relatively few systematic differences associated with age at family placement or whether the families were relatives or nonrelatives. Russian parent-reared children were rated as having more problem behaviors than the US standardization sample, which raises cautions about using standards cross-culturally.
Associations among child abuse, mental health, and epigenetic modifications in the proopiomelanocortin gene (POMC): A study with children in Tanzania
Authors: Hecker Tobias , Radtke Karl M. , Hermenau Katharin , Papassotiropoulos Andreas , Elbert Thomas 
Published: January 2016

AbstractChild abuse is associated with a number of emotional and behavioral problems. Nevertheless, it has been argued that these adverse consequences may not hold for societies in which many of the specific acts of abuse are culturally normed. Epigenetic modifications in the genes of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis may provide a potential mechanism translating abuse into altered gene expression, which subsequently results in behavioral changes. Our investigation took place in Tanzania, a society in which many forms of abuse are commonly employed as disciplinary methods. We included 35 children with high exposure and compared them to 25 children with low exposure. Extreme group comparisons revealed that children with high exposure reported more mental health problems. Child abuse was associated with differential methylation in the proopiomelanocortin gene (POMC), measured both in saliva and in blood. Hierarchical clustering based on the methylation of thePOMCgene found two distinct clusters. These corresponded with children's self-reported abuse, with two-thirds of the children allocated into their respective group. Our results emphasize the consequences of child abuse based on both molecular and behavioral grounds, providing further evidence that acts of abuse affect children, even when culturally acceptable. Furthermore, on a molecular level, our findings strengthen the credibility of children's self-reports.
Data-driven learning for beginners: The case of German verb-preposition collocations
Authors: Vyatkina Nina 
Published: January 2016

AbstractResearch on data-driven learning (DDL), or teaching and learning languages with the help of electronic corpora, has shown that it is both effective and efficient. Nevertheless, DDL is still far from common pedagogical practice, not least because the empirical research on it is still limited and narrowly focused. This study addresses some gaps in that research by exploring the effectiveness of DDL for teaching low-proficiency learners lexico-grammatical constructions (verb-preposition collocations) in German, a morphologically rich language. The study employed a pretest-posttest design with intact third- and fourth-semester classes for German as a foreign language at a US university. The same collocations were taught to each group during one class period, with one group at each course level taking a paper-based DDL lesson with concordance lines from a native-speaker corpus and the other one taking a traditional rule-based lesson with textbook exercises. These constructions were new to third-semester students, whereas fourth-semester students had been exposed to them in the previous semester. The results show that, whereas the DDL method and the traditional method were both effective and resulted in lexical and grammatical gains, DDL was more effective for teaching new collocations. The study thus argues in favor of using paper-based DDL in the classroom at lower proficiency levels and for languages other than English.
Automatic Detection of Pearlite Spheroidization Grade of Steel Using Optical Metallography
Authors: Chen Naichao , Chen Yingchao , Ai Jun , Ren Jianxin , Zhu Rui , Ma Xingchi , Han Jun , Ma Qingqian 
Published: January 2016

AbstractTo eliminate the effect of subjective factors during manually determining the pearlite spheroidization grade of steel by analysis of optical metallography images, a novel method combining image mining and artificial neural networks (ANN) is proposed. The four co-occurrence matrices of angular second moment, contrast, correlation, and entropy are adopted to objectively characterize the images. ANN is employed to establish a mathematical model between the four co-occurrence matrices and the corresponding spheroidization grade. Three materials used in coal-fired power plants (ASTM A315-B steel, ASTM A335-P12 steel, and ASTM A355-P11 steel) were selected as the samples to test the validity of our proposed method. The results indicate that the accuracies of the calculated spheroidization grades reach 99.05, 95.46, and 93.63%, respectively. Hence, our newly proposed method is adequate for automatically detecting the pearlite spheroidization grade of steel using optical metallography.
Early claiming of higher-earning husbands, the survivor benefit, and the incidence of poverty among recent widows
Authors: DIEBOLD JEFFREY , MOULTON JEREMY , SCOTT JOHN 
Published: January 2016

AbstractSocial Security provides survivor benefits to lower-earning spouses of deceased workers entitled to a retirement benefit. The value of the survivor benefit depends on a number of factors including the deceased worker's claim age. We use the Health and Retirement Study and a discrete time hazard model to analyze how the claim age of married men influences the likelihood that their spouse will enter poverty in widowhood. We find that delayed claiming is associated with reduction in a widow's poverty risk. The magnitude of this relationship varies significantly with the claim age, Social Security dependence, and survivor benefit dependence.
Men, Muslims, and Attitudes toward Gender Inequality
Authors: Lussier Danielle N. , Fish M. Steven 
Published: January 2016

AbstractGender-based inequality is often regarded as a salient characteristic of Muslim societies, yet few works have systematically compared the status of women in Muslim and non-Muslim communities. Fish (2011) finds a gender gap in structural indicators of inequality in Muslim-majority countries that cannot be explained by levels of economic development, raising questions about whether attitudes favoring inequality are more prominent among Muslims. We investigate the impact of structural-situational factors and religious identification on attitudes toward gender-based inequality using hierarchical-level models. We find that: (1) Muslim self-identification and the size of a country's Muslim population predict attitudes supportive of inequality; (2) an individual's gender has a stronger effect on attitudes than does religious identification; and (3) measures of structural inequality also shape attitudes. The effects of these variables remain strong when we consider other contextual elements, such as gross domestic product per capita, education, age, location in the Middle East, and fuels dependence.