Manufacture, use and management of macro-lithic resources in the Bronze Age settlement of Bruszczewo (Poland)

Contrary to pottery or metal artefacts, macro-lithic tools are still not fully integrated into the archaeological research programs concerning the Early Bronze Age of Central Europe. While such kind of archaeological materials usually do not easily allow typological approaches, their constant participation in several productive spheres makes them a crucial element for understanding the economic processes and the organisation of past societies. This paper presents the general results of the investigation carried out on an assemblage of 1073 macro-lithic items recovered in the wet soil area of the site of Bruszczewo (municipality of Śmigiel, Poland). This fortified settlement was inhabited during the Early Bronze Age (2100-1650 BCE) and later on in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age (1100-800 BCE), with minor archaeological evidences from Middle Ages. The methodology applied in this assessment is a holistic one, which combines manufacturing (petrography and morphometry), functional (use-wear and residues) and spatial analyses. This approach has allowed recording a mainly local raw material supplying system, based on the gathering of pebbles in the vicinity of the site and a minimal transformation of raw pieces previous to use. Moreover, Bruszczewo comes out to be a central settlement managing and controlling exogenous ores, such as copper and gold, as shown by residues found on some macro-lithic forging anvils. All in all, the recognition in the macro-lithic tool assemblage of different tasks related to subsistence (food preparation) as well as to manufacture (metallurgy, probably bone working) processes contributes to (a) defining the settlement's organisation and the management of resources in the site and (b) improving our understanding of the role played by central settlements in the socio-economic networks, at a time when the first class societies emerged in Central Europe

The role of fungi in the cocoa production chain and the challenge of climate change

Background: The role of fungi in cocoa crops is mainly associated with plant diseases and contamination of harvest with unwanted metabolites such as mycotoxins that can reach the final consumer. However, in recent years there has been interest in discovering other existing interactions in the environment that may be beneficial, such as antagonism, commensalism, and the production of specific enzymes, among others. Scope and approach: This review summarizes the different fungi species involved in cocoa production and the cocoa supply chain. In particular, it examines the presence of fungal species during cultivation, harvest, fermentation, drying, and storage, emphasizing the factors that possibly influence their prevalence in the different stages of production and the health risks associated with the production of mycotoxins in the light of recent literature. Key find-ings and conclusion: Fungi associated with the cocoa production chain have many different roles. They have evolved in a varied range of ecosystems in close association with plants and various habitats, affecting nearly all the cocoa chain steps. Reports of the isolation of 60 genera of fungi were found, of which only 19 were involved in several stages. Although endophytic fungi can help control some diseases caused by pathogenic fungi, climate change, with increased rain and tempera-tures, together with intensified exchanges, can favour most of these fungal infections, and the presence of highly aggressive new fungal genotypes increasing the concern of mycotoxin production. For this reason, mitigation strategies need to be determined to prevent the spread of disease-causing fungi and preserve beneficial ones

Prognostic implications of left ventricular global longitudinal strain in heart failure patients with narrow QRS complex treated with cardiac resynchronization therapy: a subanalysis of the randomized EchoCRT trial

Aim: Left ventricular (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) reflects LV systolic function and correlates inversely with the extent of LV myocardial scar and fibrosis. The present subanalysis of the Echocardiography Guided CRT trial investigated the prognostic value of LV GLS in patients with narrow QRS complex. Methods and results: Left ventricular (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) was measured on the apical 2-, 4- and 3-chamber views using speckle tracking analysis. Measurement of baseline LV GLS was feasible in 755 patients (374 with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT)-ON and 381 with CRT-OFF). The median value of LV GLS in the overall population was 7.9%, interquartile range 6.2–10.1%. After a mean follow-up period of 19.4 months, 95 patients in the CRT-OFF group and 111 in the CRT-ON group reached the combined primary endpoint of all-cause mortality and heart failure hospitalization. Each 1% absolute unit decrease in LV GLS was independently associated with 11% increase in the risk to reach the primary endpoint (Hazard ratio 1.11; 95% confidence interval 95% 1.04–1.17, P < 0.001), after adjusting for ischaemic cardiomyopathy and randomization treatment among other clinically relevant variables. When categorizing patients according to quartiles of LV GLS, the primary endpoint occurred more frequently in patients in the lowest quartile (<6.2%) treated with CRT-ON vs. CRT-OFF (45.6% vs. 28.7%, P = 0.009) whereas, no differences were observed in patients with LV GLS ≥6.2% treated with CRT-OFF vs. CRT-ON (23.7% vs. 24.5%, respectively; P  = 0.62). Conclusion: Low LV GLS is associated with poor outcome in heart failure patients with QRS width <130 ms, independent of randomization to CRT or not. Importantly, in the group of patients with the lowest LV GLS quartile, CRT may have a detrimental effect on clinical outcomes

PennyLane: Automatic differentiation of hybrid quantum-classical computations

PennyLane is a Python 3 software framework for optimization and machine learning of quantum and hybrid quantum-classical computations. The library provides a unified architecture for near-term quantum computing devices, supporting both qubit and continuous-variable paradigms. PennyLane's core feature is the ability to compute gradients of variational quantum circuits in a way that is compatible with classical techniques such as backpropagation. PennyLane thus extends the automatic differentiation algorithms common in optimization and machine learning to include quantum and hybrid computations. A plugin system makes the framework compatible with any gate-based quantum simulator or hardware. We provide plugins for Strawberry Fields, Rigetti Forest, Qiskit, Cirq, and ProjectQ, allowing PennyLane optimizations to be run on publicly accessible quantum devices provided by Rigetti and IBM Q. On the classical front, PennyLane interfaces with accelerated machine learning libraries such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and autograd. PennyLane can be used for the optimization of variational quantum eigensolvers, quantum approximate optimization, quantum machine learning models, and many other applications.Comment: Code available at https://github.com/XanaduAI/pennylane/ . Significant contributions to the code (new features, new plugins, etc.) will be recognized by the opportunity to be a co-author on this pape

Novel Dextran-Supported Biological Probes Decorated with Disaccharide Entities for Investigating the Carbohydrate–Protein Interactions of Gal-3

The quest for novel natural-like biomolecular probes that can be used to gain information on biological recognition events is of topical interest to several scientific areas. In particular, the recognition of carbohydrates by proteins modulates a number of important biological processes. These molecular recognition events are, however, difficult to study by the use of naturally occurring oligosaccharides and polysaccharides owing to their intrinsic structural heterogeneity and to the many technical difficulties encountered during the isolation of sufficient quantities of pure material for detailed structural and biological studies. Therefore, the construction of homogenous biomolecular probes that can mimic both the biophysical properties of polysaccharide backbones and the properties of bioactive oligosaccharide fragments are highly sought after. Herein, synthetic methodology for the construction of well-defined bioconjugates consisting of biologically relevant disaccharide fragments grafted onto a dextran backbone is presented, and a preliminary NMR spectroscopy study of their interactions with galectin-3 as a model lectin is conducted.Peer reviewe

Charm mass effects in the static energy computed in 2+1+1 flavor lattice QCD

We report our analysis for the static energy in (2+1+1)-flavor QCD over a wide range of lattice spacings and several quark masses. We obtain results for the static energy out to distances of nearly 1 fm, allowing us to perform a simultaneous determination of the lattice scales $r_2$, $r_1$ and $r_0$ as well as the string tension, $\sigma$. While our results for ${r_0}/{r_1}$ and $r_0$ $\sqrt{\sigma}$ agree with published (2+1)-flavor results, our result for ${r_1}/{r_2}$ differs significantly from the value obtained in the (2+1)-flavor case, likely due to the effect of the charm quark. We study in detail the effect of the charm quark on the static energy by comparing our results on the finest lattices with the previously published (2+1)-flavor QCD results at similar lattice spacing. The lattice results agree well with the two-loop perturbative expression of the static energy incorporating finite charm mass effects.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, The 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice2022),8-13 August, 2022,Bonn, German

First evidence for the forging of gold in an Early Bronze Age Site of Central Europe (2200–1800 BCE)

Evidence of gold processing in the fortified site of Bruszczewo (Poland) is the first testimony of the production of gold artefacts in a domestic Early Bronze Age site of Central Europe. This paper highlights the potential of macrolithic tool ensembles as a key element for the recognition of metallurgical work processes. Moreover, it presents an optimised methodological approach to tackle the application of stone tools in metallurgical production, based on technological characterisation, use-wear analysis, portable X-ray fluorescence, transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Finally, the absence of gold sources in Central Europe raises the question about the origin of the metal, constituting an especially striking issue, as gold was a raw material of restricted access. As Bruszczewo was one of the few enclosed Early Bronze Age sites north of the Central European Mountain Range, the patterning of metal processing (including gold) sheds light on the mode of the production of metal artefacts, apparently restricted to central sites of power, which controlled the communication trails.47Journal of Archaeological Science: Report

Acrylic bone cements modified with graphene oxide: Mechanical, physical, and antibacterial properties

Bacterial infections are a common complication after total joint replacements (TJRs), the treatment of which is usually based on the application of antibiotic-loaded cements; however, owing to the increase in antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, the possibility of studying new antibacterial agents in acrylic bone cements (ABCs) is open. In this study, the antibacterial effect of formulations of ABCs loaded with graphene oxide (GO) between 0 and 0.5 wt. % was evaluated against Gram-positive bacteria: Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus, and Gram-negative ones: Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli. It was found that the effect of GO was dependent on the concentration and type of bacteria: GO loadings ≥0.2 wt. % presented total inhibition of Gram-negative bacteria, while GO loadings ≥0.3 wt. % was necessary to achieve the same effect with Gram-positives bacteria. Additionally, the evaluation of some physical and mechanical properties showed that the presence of GO in cement formulations increased wettability by 17%, reduced maximum temperature during polymerization by 19%, increased setting time by 40%, and increased compressive and flexural mechanical properties by up to 17%, all of which are desirable behaviors in ABCs. The formulation of ABC loading with 0.3 wt. % GO showed great potential for use as a bone cement with antibacterial properties

Una ventana abierta a la educación

Audiovisuales: Entrevista Johannes Heinlein. Disponible en https://arcamm.uc3m.es/arcamm_3/item/show/142cae40a5008dbb2fd12e2518a73f58Contiene: Enseñanza para todos (p. 10).-- Carlos Delgado Kloos: Nos interesa para mostrar al mundo la calidad de nuestros profesores (pp. 11-12).-- Entrevista a Johannes Heinlein: Reimaginando la educación (p. 13).-- Carlos Santiuste: Caer o no caer, el secreto de las estructuras (p.14).-- Antonio Rodriguez de las Heras: Utopedia, educación para una sociedad del conocimiento (p. 15).-- Pilar Carrera: Documental, nuevas tendencias, nuevos formatos (p.16).-- Descubriendo la pintura europea de 1400 a 1800 (p.17