Moving towards an Open Archaeology: projects, opportunities and challenges

Im Allgemeinen haben Open Science-Praktiken nur langsam Auswirkungen auf die gängige archäologische Praxis. Eine Ausnahme bildet der offene Zugang zu Publikationen, der – zusammen mit offenen Daten und Methoden – zu den für Archäolog*innen wahrscheinlich wichtigsten offenen Praktiken zählt. Dieser Artikel stellt eine Auswahl von Archäologieprojekten vor, die offene wissenschaftliche Praktiken anwenden und fördern. Schließlich wird es eine Diskussion über einige der Fragen und Herausforderungen geben, denen sich die Disziplin auf ihrem Weg zu einer Open Archaeology gegenübersieht.Generally, open science practices are only slowly having an impact on mainstream archaeological practice. An exception is the open access to publications, which, together with open data and open methodologies may represent those practices most relevant for archaeological researchers. This article introduces a selection of archaeology projects that embrace and facilitate open science practices. Finally there will be a discussion of some of the questions and challenges the discipline is facing in its move towards an Open Archaeology

Pathogens of Humans Transmitted by Arthropods in Central Europe – an Update

Mitteleuropa beherbergt eine nicht geringe Zahl von Krankheitserregern (mindestens 14 Viren, ca. 10 bakterielle Erreger und mindestens 4 Protozoen), die durch Stechmücken, Zecken oder Sandmücken übertragen werden. In allen Fällen handelt es sich um Erreger von Zoonosen, also Mikroorganismen, deren natürliches Reservoir Wildtiere (allenfalls, sekundär, auch Haustiere) darstellen. Eine Ausrottung dieser Erreger ist daher ausgeschlossen. (Die Ausrottung der Malaria in Mitteleuropa und darüber hinaus in Europa war vor allem deshalb möglich, weil die involvierten Plasmodien-Spezies außer dem Menschen keine anderen Vertebraten infizieren können.)Die Erfassung der durch Arthropoden übertragenen Erreger und deren Verbreitungsareale schreitet – vor allem durch den Einsatz molekularbiologischer Methoden – zügig voran. Einige neue oder zumindest für Mitteleuropa neue, humanmedizinisch relevante Mikroorganismen sind in letzten Jahren nachgewiesen worden, mit weiteren Entdeckungen ist durchaus zu rechnen. Möglicherweise wird auch der Klimawandel, insbesondere bei einem Fortschreiten einer globalen Erwärmung, zur Etablierung von neuen Erregern ebenso wie zur Ausweitung der Verbreitungsareale von Vektoren führen. Vor allem wird aber der Faktor der Globalisierung durch mögliche Einschleppungen zunehmend an Bedeutung gewinnen. Es gibt bisher nur gegen einen einzigen Erreger – gegen das Virus der Frühsommer-Meningoenzephalitis – einen Impfstoff, der sich überdies durch hervorragende Wirksamkeit und außerordentlich gute Verträglichkeit auszeichnet. Mit neuen Impfstoffen gegen andere Erreger ist allerdings in der nahen Zukunft nicht zu rechnen. Immerhin sind aber die durch Bakterien ebenso wie die durch Protozoen hervorgerufenen Erkrankungen einer antibiotischen Therapie zugänglich, wenn sie rechtzeitig diagnostiziert werden. Hingegen stehen uns keine Medikamente gegen die durch Arthropoden übertragenen Viren zur Verfügung. Prophylaktische Maßnahmen werden daher weiterhin bedeutsam sein; das gilt vor allem für Kleinkinder, für alte Menschen und Immunsupprimierte.The development of extraordinarily efficient molecular biological methods has led to an enormous progress in the field of vector-borne diseases in Central Europe. In particular, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), various techniques of genomic sequencing, and the fast progress in uncovering and storing of gene sequences in generally accessible data bases offer the possibility of testing large numbers of vectors for certain sequences indicative for certain pathogenic microorganisms. There is a continuous increase of records of viruses, bacteria and protozoa of medical importance in ticks or bloodsucking insects in geographic regions in Central Europe where these microorganisms were previously not known. In addition, a few (proven or possibly) pathogenic microorganisms have been detected in Central Europe for the first time, and there is no doubt that several are still to be discovered. At present, Central Europe harbours (permanently or for varying periods in restricted areas) 8 tick-borne viruses (Flaviviridae: TBE/CEE; Bunyaviridae: Uukuniemi, Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever/CCHF, Erve, Bhanja; Reoviridae: Eyach, Tribec, Lipovnik), about 10 species of bacteria transmitted by ticks (Spirochaetales: Borrelia burgdorferi s. str., B. afzelii, B. garinii, B. valaisiana; Thiotricales: Francisella tularensis; Rickettsiales: Rickettsia slovaca, R. helvetica, R. monacensis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum; Coxiella burnetii), moreover (at least) 3 species of Babesia (B. divergens, B. microti, B. “EU 1”) (Protozoa: Apicomplexa: Piroplasmida), 6 viruses transmitted by mosquitoes (Togaviridae: Sindbis; Flaviviridae: West Nile, Usutu; Bunyaviridae: Batai = Calovo, Tahyna, Lednice), and Leishmania infantum (Protozoa: Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) transmitted by sandflies. The paper gives an overview on the present knowledge of these microorganisms and the diseases caused by them with respect to arthropod hosts, vertebrate hosts, geographic distribution, clinical pictures, diagnostic procedures, therapies, and prophylactic measures. The current discussion on climate change and emergence of vector-borne diseases is critically analysed. It is pointed out that effects of globalisation (e.g. the emergence of the tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, of Blue-tongue virus in Central Europe) and the discovery of pre-existing conditions (e.g. detection of Phlebotominae in Germany) may be of much higher significance. Nevertheless, global warming will certainly lead to altered situations in the field of vector-borne infections in Central Europe. An example is probably the extension of distribution areas of sandflies and the increasing autochthonous occurrence of leishmaniosis

Real-time auralization for performers on virtual stages

This article presents an interactive system for stage acoustics experimentation including considerations for hearing one's own and others' instruments. The quality of real-time auralization systems for psychophysical experiments on music performance depends on the system's calibration and latency, among other factors (e.g. visuals, simulation methods, haptics, etc). The presented system focuses on the acoustic considerations for laboratory implementations. The calibration is implemented as a set of filters accounting for the microphone-instrument distances and the directivity factors, as well as the transducers' frequency responses. Moreover, sources of errors are characterized using both state-of-the-art information and derivations from the mathematical definition of the calibration filter. In order to compensate for hardware latency without cropping parts of the simulated impulse responses, the virtual direct sound of musicians hearing themselves is skipped from the simulation and addressed by letting the actual direct sound reach the listener through open headphones. The required latency compensation of the interactive part (i.e. hearing others) meets the minimum distance requirement between musicians, which is 2 m for the implemented system. Finally, a proof of concept is provided that includes objective and subjective experiments, which give support to the feasibility of the proposed setup

PUTTING 3D MODELS INTO CONTEXT – THE SCHACHERMEYR POTTERY COLLECTION AND THE DEFC APP

[EN] In order to overcome the different knowledge schemas of research on Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites of Greece and Anatolia, an open access Django-based database called DEFC App (Digitizing Early Farming Cultures Application) has been developed. The 3D models of the Schachermeyr sherd collection are one of the many resources that will be integrated into the database. The present contribution focuses on these 3D models and their metadata and on how they are contextualized within the DEFC App database and beyond. Additionally, we discuss the 3D model provenance metadata that should accompany the 3D models in order to assure their transparency.Stuhec, S.; Aspöck, E.; Masur, A.; Andorfer, P.; Zaytseva, K. (2016). PUTTING 3D MODELS INTO CONTEXT – THE SCHACHERMEYR POTTERY COLLECTION AND THE DEFC APP. En 8th International congress on archaeology, computer graphics, cultural heritage and innovation. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 449-452. https://doi.org/10.4995/arqueologica8.2015.4155OCS44945

A round robin on room acoustical simulation and auralization

A round robin was conducted to evaluate the state of the art of room acoustic modeling software both in the physical and perceptual realms. The test was based on six acoustic scenes highlighting specific acoustic phenomena and for three complex, “real-world” spatial environments. The results demonstrate that most present simulation algorithms generate obvious model errors once the assumptions of geometrical acoustics are no longer met. As a consequence, they are neither able to provide a reliable pattern of early reflections nor do they provide a reliable prediction of room acoustic parameters outside a medium frequency range. In the perceptual domain, the algorithms under test could generate mostly plausible but not authentic auralizations, i.e., the difference between simulated and measured impulse responses of the same scene was always clearly audible. Most relevant for this perceptual difference are deviations in tone color and source position between measurement and simulation, which to a large extent can be traced back to the simplified use of random incidence absorption and scattering coefficients and shortcomings in the simulation of early reflections due to the missing or insufficient modeling of diffraction.DFG, 174776315, FOR 1557: Simulation and Evaluation of Acoustical Environments (SEACEN

Formation processes of a reopened early Bronze Age inhumation grave in Austria: the soil thin section analyses

Early Bronze Age and early medieval inhumation graves in (central) Europe had often been re-opened a short time after burial and, inmost cases, grave goods were removed. To improve the understanding of the archaeological evidence of these graves, one re-opened grave from a large early Bronze Age (Wieselburg/Gáta culture) cemetery in Weiden am See, eastern Austria, was excavated using a microstratigraphic protocol to maximize data collection for the reconstruction of the context formation process and, consequently, the interpretation of the re-opening process. In this article the results of the soil thin section analyses are presented and discussed

Pseudodidymium cryptomastigophorum gen. n., sp. n., a Hyperamoeba or a Slime Mould? A Combined Study on Morphology and 18S rDNA Sequence Data

Summary. The Hyperamoeba-like amoeboflagellate (Wi7/2-PE) has been isolated from a hydrotherapy pool inside a hospital at Wildbach/ Germany. Based on combined morphological and molecularbiological data we conclude that this isolate can neither be assigned to the genus Hyperamoeba nor to any of the myxogastrean slime moulds, which are the closest relatives of Hyperamoeba. We thus considered describing this isolate within a new genus, Pseudodidymium, as a new species, Pseudodidymium cryptomastigophorum. As observed by phase contrast microscopy the gross morphology and size of the three stages -trophozoite, cyst, and flagellate stage -is comparable to respective characters of Hyperamoeba as described b

The identification of free-living environmental isolates of amoebae from Bulgaria

A survey was carried out in Bulgaria to determine the presence of free-living amoebae (FLA) from environmental sources. In 171 (61.1%) of 280 samples, isolates of Acanthamoeba with group II or III morphology, as well as Hartmannella spp. were recovered. Five isolates named "6” (artificial lake), Ep (lake), G2 (soil), R4* (river) and PK (spring water)—all exhibiting a highly efficient proliferation in axenic cultures—were subsequently cloned and subjected to molecular analyses for identification and genotyping In accordance with morphological findings, PCR-based analyses identified four isolates (6, Ep, G2, R4*) belonging to the genus Acanthamoeba. Confirmation of these findings was obtained by phylogenetic analysis using partial sequencing of the 18S rDNA (ASA.S1) Acanthamoeba-gene. Comparison of these sequences with corresponding regions from other Acanthamoeba strains available from GenBank sorted all four isolates into the sequence type group T4 that contains most of the pathogenic Acanthamoeba strains already identified. The fifth isolate (PK) exhibited morphological characteristics matching those of Hartmannella, and scored negative in the Naegleria fowleri and Acanthamoeba PCR

Natural occurrence of Escherichia coli-infecting bacteriophages in clinical samples

Copyright © 2019 Pacífico, Hilbert, Sofka, Dinhopl, Pap, Aspöck, Carriço and Hilbert. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.The interaction between bacteriophages, bacteria and the human host as a tripartite system has recently captured attention. The taxonomic diversity of bacteriophages, as a natural parasite of bacteria, still remains obscure in human body biomes, representing a so-called "viral dark matter." Here, we isolated and characterized coliphages from blood, urine and tracheal aspirates samples collected at a tertiary care hospital in Austria. Phages were more often isolated from blood, followed by urine and tracheal aspirates. Phylogenetic analysis and genome comparisons allowed the identification of phages belonging to the Tunavirinae subfamily, and to the Peduovirus and Tequintavirus genera. Tunavirinae phages cluster together and are found in samples from 14 patients, suggesting their prevalence across a variety of human samples. When compared with other phage genomes, the highest similarity level was at 87.69% average nucleotide identity (ANI), which suggests that these are in fact a newly isolated phage species. Tequintavirus phages share a 95.90% with phage 3_29, challenging the ANI threshold currently accepted to differentiate phage species. The isolated phages appear to be virulent, with the exception of the Peduovirus members, which are integrative and seem to reside as prophages in bacterial genomes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio