Problemas de durabilidad de los materiales de construcción arqueológicos en ambientes acuosos y subaéreos, con aplicaciones a la restauración y conservación en Egipto y Sudán.

The main objective of the study was to identify and assess the conservation problems of the building materials of each case study and compare the aggressive impacts of each environment on the sustainability of the construction materials. Carefully, the construction materials (limestone, sandy limestone, sandstone, lime mortars, gypsum, hydraulic lime mortar/roman mortar) were selected from different archaeological sites with different environmental conditions in Egypt and Sudan (desert: Sahure?s pyramid and pyramids of Meroe; urban/agricultural: Nero/Ramses II Temple; coastal: Anfushi?s Necropolis; and fluvial: Abaton/Osiris Temple). To achieve this goal, field observations, analytical (X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectrometry), microscopic (binocular microscope, polarizing microscope and scanning electron microscope), mapping (AutoCAD, ArcMap 10.8, SeaDAS, QGIS), and physical and mechanical testing investigations were carried out. Furthermore, open-access satellite lenses were used for the detection and assessment of the archaeological sites and their risks, and, the deterioration patterns of each case study were recorded through decay mappings. Finally, to preserve the lime mortar surfaces, a newly synthesized nanomaterial of SiO2-TiO2 NPs/TEOS was applied and tested. The results showed the severity of each factor on the construction materials. In this sense, Sahure?s pyramid was affected mainly by climatic and environmental factors, earthquakes and the inner composition of the building materials. Nero/Ramses II Temple showed its susceptivity mainly from the salt attack which came from the contaminated sources of water around the temple. Water intrusion, earthquakes, storms, and heavy rains factors attacked Anfushi?s Necropolis severely. Abaton/Osiris Temple was decayed because of Nile water fluctuations impact and the inner weakness of the temple sandstones. In Sudan, the pyramids of Meroe were damaged because of the sand dunes and wind forces, in addition to the flooding risks. Finally, and concerning to the heritage conservation, the research exhibited the efficacy of the multifunctional 3% and 5% SiO2-TiO2 NPs/TEOS in the consolidation and improvement of the physical and mechanical ancient lime mortars

The annotation and the usage of scientific databases could be improved with public issue tracker software

Since the publication of their longtime predecessor The Atlas of Protein Sequences and Structures in 1965 by Margaret Dayhoff, scientific databases have become a key factor in the organization of modern science. All the information and knowledge described in the novel scientific literature is translated into entries in many different scientific databases, making it possible to obtain very accurate information on a biological entity like genes or proteins without having to manually review the literature on it. However, even for the databases with the finest annotation procedures, errors or unclear parts sometimes appear in the publicly released version and influence the research of unaware scientists using them. The researcher that finds an error in a database is often left in a uncertain state, and often abandons the effort of reporting it because of a lack of a standard procedure to do so. In the present work, we propose that the simple adoption of a public error tracker application, as in many open software projects, could improve the quality of the annotations in many databases and encourage feedback from the scientific community on the data annotated publicly. In order to illustrate the situation, we describe a series of errors that we found and helped solve on the genes of a very well-known pathway in various biomedically relevant databases. We would like to show that, even if a majority of the most important scientific databases have procedures for reporting errors, these are usually not publicly visible, making the process of reporting errors time consuming and not useful. Also, the effort made by the user that reports the error often goes unacknowledged, putting him in a discouraging position

Sustainable tourism policies in Peru and their link with renewable energy: analysis in the main museums of the Moche route

Tourism activity in Peru has been experiencing significant growth in the last ten years, positioning this economic sector as the third largest contributor to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Likewise, Peru has a high ecological and climate diversity, which makes it the possessor of renewable energy potential, specifically solar and wind power. The rapid growth of tourism is leading to generating prospects for becoming a sustainable destination. In this sense, it is important to understand and evaluate the Peruvian legislative framework for sustainable tourism and the current state of the implementation of the scenarios provided by the governmental entity in terms of sustainability, and its link with tourism activity. Based on what has been described, this study is aimed at evaluating the four most relevant museums in the northern part of Peru; in addition, it contributes to the studies that exist at the intersection of tourism and sustainability in the chains of activities related to tourism and calls for rationality applied to tourism management in this region of Latin America. The results of the literature review of the Peruvian legal framework reveal a lack of specific laws and regulations on sustainable tourism; on the contrary, there are policies in force that contribute to promoting the development of sustainable tourism. The quantified evaluation of the solar and wind potentials of the geographical area under study indicates the minimum renewable energy potential necessary for its transformation and use in the development of sustainable museums and its contribution to sustainable tourism

A Systematic Review Examining the Added Value of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Interventions for Preventive Chemotherapy Programs on Reducing the Prevalence of Trachoma

BACKGROUND: Trachoma is a leading cause of avoidable blindness. Currently, trachoma is endemic in 57 countries, infects approximately 84 million people globally, and continues to threaten over 10 % of the world’s population with the risk of blindness. Caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis, blindness due to trachoma is caused by repeated eye infection resulting in the inflammation of the upper eyelid eventually leading the upper lid to pull inward scratching and tearing the cornea causing it to become opaque resulting in loss of vision. The World Health Organization recommends eliminating trachoma as a public health problem using the SAFE strategy: Surgery, Antibiotic, Face washing and Environmental control. OBJECTIVES: This review examined the benefits of the added value of water, sanitation, and hygiene education interventions on preventive mass drug administration for trachoma. METHODS: Trials were identified from MEDLINE, PubMed, and LISTA EBSCO databases using a series of search terms. No restrictions were put on study date, location, design, or language of publication. The abstracts were examined from each of the searches, and any abstract describing risk factors, survey results of mass drug administration (MDA), or providing a general overview of trachoma were automatically discarded. Full text of papers including the combined use of key words including SAFE, WASH, intervention, impact, added value, MDA, azithromycin/ Zithromax® were obtained for review. Twelve full texts articles were retrieved all relevant information were placed in a standardized data extraction form. MAIN RESULTS: Three studies met the complete criteria for inclusion. All studies found a significant change in reduction of active trachoma prevalence. One study focused on the added benefit of antibiotic and environmental components on hygiene education delivered by radio. Another trial compared two villages; the control community performed MDA and the surgery while the intervention village added the F and E components. The final study as well focused the added benefit of ‘F’ and ‘E’ on ‘A’. Two of the three studies found this reduction was from the added benefit of face washing ‘F’ and environmental control ‘E’ to antibiotic use. CONCLUSIONS: In order to eliminate blinding trachoma as a public health problem, recurrence of the active form of the disease must be interrupted before repeated scarring leads to trichiasis. The antibiotic component of the SAFE strategy is a quick fix to the immediate problem. The ‘F’ and ‘E’ components are the more sustainable interventions, yet little research has been done on the actual amount of added value the individual ‘A’‘F’&’E’ components have to one another. After thorough review of the articles, articles were found which documented the ‘F’ and ‘E’ components provide significant value to the overall decrease of prevalence of active. However, the limited results of the search suggest more research can better elucidate the ability of the ‘F’ and ‘E’ components to reduce trachoma prevalence and ultimately impact blinding

Sensitivity analysis and calibration of multi energy balance land surface model parameters

Flows of energy between the atmosphere, the oceans and the land surfaces drive weather and climate on Earth. Increased understanding of these processes is crucial to successfully predict and address the challenges of climate change. Land surface models (LSM) are mathematical models designed to mimic natural processes and evolution of land surfaces with the basic task to simulate surface-atmosphere energy flows. Within the SURFace EXternalisée modeling platform (SURFEX), developed by Météo-France and a suite of international partners, a new LSM called the Interaction Soil Biosphere Atmosphere model - Multi Energy Balance (ISBA-MEB) has been developed. There are however still uncertainties in how to accurately prescribe model parameters used to numerically define the physiography and natural processes of modelled land surfaces which consequently results in uncertainties in modelled outputs. In the present study, Quasi-Monte Carlo simulations based on Sobol sensitivity analysis was applied to explore the uncertainty contribution of individual parameters to modelled surface-atmosphere turbulent sensible and latent heat fluxes in forest environments. Those parameters to which modelled fluxes were identified as significantly sensitive were then calibrated by generating multiple sets of parameter values with the Latin Hypercube sampling technique on which the model was run to identify what parameter values generated the least amount of model output bias and to evaluate how much model output uncertainty could be reduced. To explore variations in parameter sensitivity and optimal parameter prescriptions between forest environments, four separate forest areas with varying vegetation types and climate classifications were modelled. Results disclose that the level of uncertainty contribution of individual parameters varies between forest environments. Three parameters were however identified to contribute with significantly output uncertainty; 1) the ration between roughness length of momentum and thermal roughness length, 2) the heat capacity of vegetation and soil and 3) the leaf orientation at canopy bottom. Calibrating these parameters marginally reduced model output uncertainty at all study areas.Jorden tar emot ett konstant flöde av energi via solinstrålning som sedan cirkulerar mellan atmosfären, haven och markytan innan den slutligen strålas ut i rymden. Dessa energiflöden är bränslet som driver planetens väder- och klimatfenomen och det vetenskapliga samfundet efterfrågar ökad kunskap om detta system för att utmaningarna med klimatförändringar ska kunna förutspås och hanteras. En grundläggande komponent i klimatsystemet är markytans energiutbyte med atmosfären. Hur stora dessa energiflöden är och i vilken form som energin transporteras avgörs av väderförhållanden och markens fysiska egenskaper. Inom exempelvis meteorologi och hydrologi simuleras dessa processer med hjälp av Markytamodeller. I ett internationellt samarbete med utgångspunkt i Frankrikes meteorologiska institut Météo France har en ny Markytamodell för simulering av naturmiljöer utvecklats. Denna modell möjliggör en mer detaljerad beskrivning av markytans fysiska komponenter, så som karaktären på jord och vegetation, än sina förgångare. Markytamodeller är matematiska och lanskapets karaktär beskrivs därför numeriska parametrar. I nuläget råder det osäkerhet kring hur vissa av dessa parametrar bäst definieras i olika skogstyper. Eftersom markytans olika fysiska komponenter har olika inflytande på energiflöden har även Markytamodellers parmetrar olika inflytande på simuleringen av dessa energiflöden. Detta uttrycks även som att modellen är olika känslig för olika parametrar. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur känslig den nya Markmodellen är för olika vegetationsparametrar i olika skogsmiljöer. Vidare var syftet att undersöka hur mycket simuleringar kan förbättras genom att finna det optimala värdet på de mest känsliga parametrarna i respektive skogsområde. Skillnader i parameterkänslighet och optimala parametervärden för fyra olika skogsmiljöer identifierades med så kallade Monte-Carlo simuleringar. Kortfattat innebar detta att skogsmiljöerna modellerades upprepade gånger med olika parametervärden. Slutsatserna är att parameterkänsligheten varierar mellan de inkluderade skogsområdena, men att modellen är mycket känsliga för tre av de analyserade parametrarna. Genom att identifiera optimala värden för dessa mycket känsliga parametrar i respektive skogsmiljö kunde mer realistiska simuleringar av energiflöden uppnås

Preserving Arctic Archaeology in the 21st Century: Threats of Climate Change

Archaeological sites around the world are facing many challenges. These challenges include urban expansion, resource exploitation, tourism, governmental infrastructure programs such as road development and one of the most recently recognized challenges is climate change. The archaeological record of the Arctic tundra is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in the climate, with its fragile ecosystems and ground underlain by permafrost. The impact of increasing global temperatures is a major public issue of the 21st Century, and the ramifications on archaeological sites are significant. The impacts felt over the next century are predicted to range from a sea level rise of almost a metre to a 6.4°C rise in temperature (IPCC, 2007:13). Arctic archaeological sites often invoke a feeling of being in stasis, simply waiting for the next researcher to come along and discover them anew. In fact, the continued existence of these sites is taken for granted, and many are in fact under siege from environmental factors. While the Arctic may face some of the greatest environmental challenges to its archaeological record, it also has some of the greatest potential of in situ preservation in the world. The slow growth of infrastructure in many parts of the Arctic along with a very low population density has meant that threats from development are not as significant or pressing as in other locales both in Canada and throughout the world. This means that the potential to preserve the archaeological record for future generations and future technologies is substantial if the surrounding environment can be stabilized. This paper summarizes the effects of a warming climate upon archaeological sites and uses the Arctic as a focal point, as it is the northern regions that are currently recognized as the most environmentally vulnerable. The Sannirut site on Bylot Island, Nunavut presents an excellent case study on the importance of preservation policies as well as the practicalities on how it can be done with current technologies

Rock Art Pilot Project Main Report

A report on the results of a pilot project to investigate the current state of research, conservation, management and presentation of prehistoric rock art in England commissioned by English Heritage from Archaeology Group, School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth Unviersity and the Institute of Archaeology, University College Londo