16 research outputs found

    Neolithic land-use in the Dutch wetlands: estimating the land-use implications of resource exploitation strategies in the Middle Swifterbant Culture (4600-3900 BCE)

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    The Dutch wetlands witness the gradual adoption of Neolithic novelties by foraging societies during the Swifterbant period. Recent analyses provide new insights into the subsistence palette of Middle Swifterbant societies. Small-scale livestock herding and cultivation are in evidence at this time, but their importance if unclear. Within the framework of PAGES Land-use at 6000BP project, we aim to translate the information on resource exploitation into information on land-use that can be incorporated into global climate modelling efforts, with attention for the importance of agriculture. A reconstruction of patterns of resource exploitation and their land-use dimensions is complicated by methodological issues in comparing the results of varied recent investigations. Analyses of organic residues in ceramics have attested to the cooking of aquatic foods, ruminant meat, porcine meat, as well as rare cases of dairy. In terms of vegetative matter, some ceramics exclusively yielded evidence of wild plants, while others preserve cereal remains. Elevated 未15N values of human were interpreted as demonstrating an important aquatic component of the diet well into the 4th millennium BC. Yet recent assays on livestock remains suggest grazing on salt marshes partly accounts for the human values. Finally, renewed archaeozoological investigations have shown the early presence of domestic animals to be more limited than previously thought. We discuss the relative importance of exploited resources to produce a best-fit interpretation of changing patterns of land-use during the Middle Swifterbant phase. Our review combines recent archaeological data with wider data on anthropogenic influence on the landscape. Combining the results of plant macroremains, information from pollen cores about vegetation development, the structure of faunal assemblages, and finds of arable fields and dairy residue, we suggest the most parsimonious interpretation is one of a limited land-use footprint of cultivation and livestock keeping in Dutch wetlands between 4600 and 3900 BCE.NWOVidi 276-60-004Human Origin

    Taphonomy, environment or human plant exploitation strategies?: Deciphering changes in Pleistocene-Holocene plant representation at Umhlatuzana rockshelter, South Africa

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    The period between ~40 and 20 ka BP encompassing the Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) transition has long been of interest because of the associated technological change. Understanding this transition in southern Africa is complicated by the paucity of archaeological sites that span this period. With its occupation sequence spanning the last ~70,000 years, Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter is one of the few sites that record this transition. Umhlatuzana thus offers a great opportunity to study past environmental dynamics from the Late Pleistocene (MIS 4) to the Late Holocene, and past human subsistence strategies, their social organisation, technological and symbolic innovations. Although organic preservation is poor (bones, seeds, and charcoal) at the site, silica phytoliths preserve generally well throughout the sequence. These microscopic silica particles can identify different plant types that are no longer visible at the site because of decomposition or burning to a reliable taxonomical level. Thus, to trace site occupation, plant resource use, and in turn reconstruct past vegetation, we applied phytolith analyses to sediment samples of the newly excavated Umhlatuzana sequence. We present results of the phytolith assemblage variability to determine change in plant use from the Pleistocene to the Holocene and discuss them in relation to taphonomical processes and human plant gathering strategies and activities. This study ultimately seeks to provide a palaeoenvironmental context for modes of occupation and will shed light on past human-environmental interactions in eastern South Africa.NWOVidi 276-60-004Human Origin

    Mobile Robots

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    The objective of this book is to cover advances of mobile robotics and related technologies applied for multi robot systems' design and development. Design of control system is a complex issue, requiring the application of information technologies to link the robots into a single network. Human robot interface becomes a demanding task, especially when we try to use sophisticated methods for brain signal processing. Generated electrophysiological signals can be used to command different devices, such as cars, wheelchair or even video games. A number of developments in navigation and path planning, including parallel programming, can be observed. Cooperative path planning, formation control of multi robotic agents, communication and distance measurement between agents are shown. Training of the mobile robot operators is very difficult task also because of several factors related to different task execution. The presented improvement is related to environment model generation based on autonomous mobile robot observations

    Ways and Capacity in Archaeological Data Management in Serbia

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    Over the past year and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire world has witnessed inequalities across borders and societies. They also include access to archaeological resources, both physical and digital. Both archaeological data creators and users spent a lot of time working from their homes, away from artefact collections and research data. However, this was the perfect moment to understand the importance of making data freely and openly available, both nationally and internationally. This is why the authors of this paper chose to make a selection of data bases from various institutions responsible for preservation and protection of cultural heritage, in order to understand their policies regarding accessibility and usage of the data they keep. This will be done by simple visits to various web-sites or data bases. They intend to check on the volume and content, but also importance of the offered archaeological heritage. In addition, the authors will estimate whether the heritage has adequately been classified and described and also check whether data is available in foreign languages. It needs to be seen whether it is possible to access digital objects (documents and the accompanying metadata), whether access is opened for all users or it requires a certain hierarchy access, what is the policy of usage, reusage and distribution etc. It remains to be seen whether there are public API or whether it is possible to collect data through API. In case that there is a public API, one needs to check whether datasets are interoperable or messy, requiring data cleaning. After having visited a certain number of web-sites, the authors expect to collect enough data to make a satisfactory conclusion about accessibility and usage of Serbian archaeological data web bases

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    Nobi Ni-tse鈥檛se鈥檈de (house on the Cold One): Northern Great Basin Archaic Hunter-gatherer Household Archaeology, Harney County, Oregon

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    Excavation results from four sites on Tse鈥檛se鈥檈de (The Cold One), which is also commonly known as Steens Mountain, produced archaeological evidence for a prehistoric subsistence and settlement system on the western flank of Tse鈥檛se鈥檈de. Material culture recovered in association with one house, domestic surfaces, and from a high elevation hunting locale provides evidence for human use of the mountain spanning the Archaic. Analysis suggests human occupation of the range intensified post Cal 3000 BP. The archaeological results were compared against an ethnographically derived model for household and community food security, the basis of settlement and subsistence systems. The model failed to predict the house type revealed during the dissertation fieldwork on Tse鈥檛se鈥檈de. The model did predict the distribution and features at the investigated Tse鈥檛se鈥檈de sites, such as walls and the storage locations of personal items. Subsequent analysis revealed walls and locations associated with specific activities. Taxonomic identifications of recovered faunal specimens indicate a close fit with the predicted use of animal resources. Charcoal and burned botanicals recovered from the subject sites must be subjected to macrobotanical analysis to confirm predictions about floral resources. Few Northern Great Basin Late Archaic sites with evidence for house structures match the model expectations. The archaeological record includes a diverse array of house types, manufactured in unexpected places, such as in upland environments, and many vary from one to another, and exhibit a general pattern for a decrease in house diameter over time. Given the documented investment in house structure and the distribution of other similar sites, a population of at least one hundred or more individuals likely inhabited the Little Blitzen River Valley prior to U.S. Military campaigns in the area. Exotic artifacts suggest households were connected to larger regional social and economic networks reaching into Northern California and southwest Oregon

    WHERE YOU LIVE DOES MATTER: THE IMPACT OF RACIAL RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION ON RACIAL DISPARITIES IN CANCER INCIDENCE AND MORTALITY IN NORTHEASTERN AND SOUTHERN U.S. COUNTIES, 2005-2009

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    This study merges the frameworks of social epidemiology, human ecology, and Critical Race Theory to examine the impact of racial residential segregation on racial disparities in cancer incidence/mortality and characteristics of the social and physical environment. County-level data on cancer incidence, cancer mortality, racial residential segregation, and other characteristics of the social and physical environment are collected from nine publically-available sources. Regression models identify predictors of the racial disparity in cancer incidence and cancer mortality. Racial residential segregation is not a significant predictor of the racial gap in cancer incidence or the racial gap in cancer mortality after controlling for the racial gap in median household income. Racial disparity in median household income is the most significant predictor of both the racial gap in cancer incidence and the racial gap in cancer mortality. Although there is no significant relationship between racial residential segregation and the racial gap in cancer incidence and cancer mortality was not found, highly segregated areas do face certain forms of disadvantage in several health-protecting resources鈥攈ousing, exposure to environmental pollutants, educational attainment, and economic opportunities. In order for interventions and policies to be effective in reducing racial disparities in health outcomes, the structural (i.e., foundational and fundamental) causes of these inequalities鈥攊nstitutional racism, racial residential segregation, economic/educational inequalities鈥攎ust be addressed. In addition, the methods used to "protect confidentiality" and "maintain data reliability" of publically available data sources need to be examined through the lens of Critical Race Theory to determine whether these methods are simply supporting the racialized structure and protecting the status quo

    A Study of Hydroclimatic Dynamics in Mountain Landscapes

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    The hydroclimatic regime of mountain landscapes in the Pacific Northwest, USA plays a large role in collecting, storing, and distributing water throughout the greater United States. The complexities of the landscape, vegetation, and anthropogenic impacts within this region form a dynamic web of interactions that create unique challenges when quantifying hydrologic variables. This dissertation focuses on these challenges and introduces a new way of deciphering the driving mechanism of streamflow trends. The first project examines the differences between modeling techniques in mountain terrain. In this project, we use a physically-based regional climate model to dynamically downscale global climate estimates for winter precipitation over western Montana. We compare these estimates with an observationally-based model over the same region. Results show large discrepancies at high elevations where little observations exist. In these areas, the physics-based model consistently estimates higher amounts of winter precipitation and interannual variability. Potential biases in both models are evaluated. The second project focuses on the uncertainty in estimating winter precipitation at high elevation using the current observational network. We use Bayesian inference to calculate and spatially distribute uncertainty across the western Montana landscape. We analyze this uncertainty in terms of potential differences in winter precipitation over the next 40 years and find that aspect and elevation are key components in quantifying uncertainty and potential change in mountain terrain. Overall, we find that current observational networks may be missing climate change signals at high elevation and we identify optimal locations based on topographic attributes and climate projections where additional weather stations would be most beneficial. The third project expands the boundaries of the domain to the entire Pacific Northwest, USA. In this project, we develop a framework for distinguishing streamflow trends that are driven by land use from those that are driven by climate. This framework is based on unique runoff sensitivities between driving mechanisms that are related to water and energy limitations. We validate the framework using over 1,500 stream gages across the United States and then apply it in a case study of the Pacific Northwest. Our results show that the majority of the streamflow trends are primarily driven by land use and cover not monotonic changes in climate forcings

    Un framework para el despliegue y evaluaci贸n de procesos software

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    La Ingenier铆a de Procesos Software promueve la producci贸n sistem谩tica de software mediante el seguimiento de una serie de procesos bien definidos. Una gesti贸n integral de dichos procesos implica el desarrollo de una serie de actividades como son el dise帽o de los modelos de procesos, la verificaci贸n, la validaci贸n, el despliegue y la posterior evaluaci贸n. El consorcio OMG public贸 el est谩ndar Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM), un lenguaje destinado a facilitar y potenciar el entendimiento, la reutilizaci贸n y la mejora de los procesos software. Despu茅s de realizar una revisi贸n de la literatura con respecto a los usos del lenguaje, se pudieron extraer diversas conclusiones. La m谩s importante es que el est谩ndar ha tenido poca aceptaci贸n en la industria, en parte debido a la propia complejidad del lenguaje, a ciertas carencias existentes en aspectos como la gesti贸n de la variabilidad de los procesos y su ejecutabilidad, y la falta de mecanismos para la automatizaci贸n del despliegue sobre herramientas de soporte. Adem谩s, la evaluaci贸n de los procesos software es una actividad manual y su automatizaci贸n requiere mejorar considerablemente la interoperabilidad entre las herramientas de apoyo a la producci贸n y gesti贸n del software. Con los objetivos de minimizar los tiempos requeridos para adaptar las herramientas al comenzar cada nuevo proyecto y disminuir la complejidad t茅cnica existente a la hora de construir mecanismos para automatizar la evaluaci贸n, se presenta Software Process Deployment & Evaluation Framework (SPDEF), un marco de trabajo para el despliegue y evaluaci贸n de procesos software. Este marco de trabajo se basa en la aplicaci贸n de las t茅cnicas de la Ingenier铆a del Software dirigida por modelos y de la integraci贸n de informaci贸n mediante datos abiertos enlazados. Utilizando las primeras, se consigue la adaptaci贸n semi-autom谩tica de las herramientas de soporte mediante la transformaci贸n sucesiva de modelos, partiendo desde el modelo de procesos. Con los datos abiertos enlazados, se consigue que las herramientas expongan de manera controlada la informaci贸n que gestionan, para as铆 facilitar la construcci贸n de soluciones de integraci贸n destinadas a la evaluaci贸n de los procesos. El framework incluye, adem谩s de un m茅todo sistem谩tico para el despliegue y evaluaci贸n, un conjunto de modelos y relaciones, as铆 como una serie de herramientas de apoyo. Para la evaluaci贸n del framework se han desarrollado dos casos de estudio consistentes en el despliegue de la metodolog铆a OpenUP sobre herramientas de soporte y en la evaluaci贸n de competencias en recursos de personal implicados en los procesos software. Adem谩s, se presenta un escenario detallado de integraci贸n para ilustrar c贸mo es posible automatizar las revisiones t茅cnicas de calidad sobre los proyectos de desarrollo o mantenimiento de software
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