Mouthiers-sur-Boëme – Chez les Rois

Identifiant de l'opération archéologique : 204536 Date de l'opération : 2008 (FP) Chez les Rois est un gisement de référence de l’Aurignacien charentais et un des rares gisements aurignaciens européens à avoir livré des restes humains en place. Fouillé entre 1930 et 1939 par Potut et entre 1948 et 1952 par Mouton et Joffroy (1958), ce gisement a fait l’objet d’un sondage en 2005 et d’une fouille programmée entre 2006 et 2008 (d’Errico et Vanhaeren 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008). Cette opération de t..

MANAGEMENT OF THE ROOT-KNOT NEMATODE MELOIDOGYNE INCOGNITAON TOMATO WITH DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF NEMATICIDESAND A RESISTANT ROOTSTOCK: PRELIMINARY DATA

In south Italy, tomato growers commonly face severe root-knot nematode infestations. Alternative methods ofcontrol are required because of the high toxicity of current pesticides. Therefore, the potential of an integrated pestmanagement strategy for the control of root-knot nematodes on tomato in greenhouse was investigated. The nematodesusceptible tomato cv. Ikram, non-grafted or grafted onto the tomato rootstock cv. Armstrong, with intermediate resistanceto the nematode, in combination with soil applications of the nematicides fosthiazate, oxamyl, and abamectin were tested.The resistant rootstock significantly reduced nematode soil population levels and root galling index until one month aftertransplanting, when soil temperature was below 28°C, but not by harvest due to increased soil temperature. Fosthiazate,abamectin and oxamyl increased tomato yield and reduced root galling caused by Meloidogyne incognita. The synergisticeffect of the rootstock resistant to root-knot nematodes and soil treatments of fosthiazate in combination with abamectin oroxamyl could successfully be employed in integrated pest management programs to control M. incognita in tomato

An Aurignacian «garden of Eden» in southern Germany ? An alternative interpretation of the geissenklösterle and a critique of the Kulturpumpe model

New radiocarbon dates and results of new analyses from Geissenklösterle (Conard and Bolus JHE, 40: 331-71) were recently used to suggest that the Aurignacian of the Swabian Jura dates back to 40 ka BP and that this evidence supports the Kulturpumpe model according to which cultural innovations of the Aurignacian and Gravettian in Swabia predate similar developments in the remainder of Europe. Here we conduct a critical analysis of new and old evidence, discuss the relevance of Conard and Bolus’s hypothesis of a “Middle Paleolithic Dating Anomaly” to explain inconsistencies in the 14C determinations for Geissenklösterle, and conclude that the earliest Aurignacian occupation of this site does not predate ca 36.5 ka BP and probably took place between 35 and 33 ka BP. This interpretation is consistent with what we know about the taphonomy and environmental context of the site, with the technology and typology of the bone and lithic assemblages from its Aurignacian levels, and conforms well to the 14C dates on faunal remains modified by humans found therein. This interpretation is also consistent with the pattern of radiocarbon dates for the Aurignacian as a whole suggesting that the emergence of this technocomplex dates to ca 36.5 ka BP ; that the process appears to our eyes as simultaneous is to be expected in the first place due to the poor resolution of available dating methods. Modern behavior as inferred from the use of objects of personal ornamentation is documented in the Châtelperronian and the Initial Upper Paleolithic of the Levant; both predate the Aurignacian chronometrically and stratigraphically. The emergence of the Aurignacian and of modern behavior in Eurasia were considered for a long time as one and the same problem, but it is now clear that these are two independent issues that must be considered separately.Sur la base de nouvelles dates 14C et de nouvelles analyses effectuées à Geissenklösterle, Conard et Bolus (JHE, 40: 331-71) ont récemment proposé que l’Aurignacien du Jura Souabe soit daté à 40 ka BP. Ce constat appuierait le modèle de peuplement appelé Kulturpumpe selon lequel l’Aurignacien et le Gravettien se seraient développés dans le Jura Souabe et que ce développement précèderait de quelques millénaires la diffusion de ces technocomplexes dans le reste de l’Europe. Nous proposons ici une analyse critique de l’ensemble des informations disponibles pour Geissenklösterle et discutons l’hypothèse de “l’anomalie du Paléolithique Moyen” proposée par Conard et Bolus pour expliquer les contradictions dans les datations 14C de ce site. Nous concluons, en contradiction avec ces auteurs, que la plus ancienne occupation aurignacienne de cette grotte est postérieure à 36,5 ka BP et doit probablement se situer entre 35 et 33 ka BP. Cette interprétation est en accord avec ce que nous savons sur la taphonomie, le contexte environnemental, la technologie et la typologie de l’outillage lithique et osseux des couches aurignaciennes de Geissenklösterle. Elle est également cohérente avec les dates 14C des restes de faune portant des traces de modifications anthropiques découvertes dans ces couches. Elle s’accorde aussi avec l’ensemble des dates disponibles pour l’Aurignacien d’Europe indiquant que ce technocomplexe s’est développé il y a environ 36,5 ka BP. Le fait que son émergence apparaisse à nos yeux comme simultanée à l’échelle européenne est dû à la faible résolution de la méthode du 14C. L’utilisation d’objets de parure, considérée généralement comme un indice archéologique de l’acquisition de comportements modernes, apparaît en Europe (Châtelperronien) et au Proche-Orient (Initial Upper Paleolithic) avant l’Aurignacien. L’origine de l’Aurignacien et l’émergence de la modernité culturelle en Eurasie ont souvent été considérées dans le passé comme deux faces de la même médaille. Il est aujourd’hui clair qu’il s’agit de questions qui doivent être discutées séparément

L’émergence du corps paré

Les objets de parure occupent une place importante dans le débat sur l’émergence de la pensée symbolique et l’évolution des capacités cognitives de nos ancêtres. Ils pourraient également offrir des informations de premier plan sur l’organisation sociale et le rôle des individus dans les sociétés du Paléolithique supérieur. Dans les sociétés traditionnelles, les objets de parure remplissent plusieurs fonctions différentes et souvent multiples. Ici, nous proposons une stratégie qui adapte les méthodes et les référentiels au potentiel de chaque contexte archéologique, pour tenter d’identifier les fonctions de la parure dans les sociétés paléolithiques et de comprendre le rôle de ces objets dans les plus anciennes cultures et constructions symboliques. L’application de cette approche à quelques cas d’étude suggère que les raisons qui ont poussé les individus à parer leur corps ont été différentes selon les circonstances. Les plus anciennes parures africaines, datées du Middle Stone Age et du début du Later Stone Age, semblent avoir principalement entretenu des réseaux d’échange. En Eurasie, au Paléolithique supérieur, les parures semblent plutôt avoir été utilisées comme des marqueurs individuels, sociaux et ethnoculturels.Personal ornaments have come to play an important role in the debate on the emergence of symbolic thought and the evolution of our ancestors’ cognitive capacities. They could equally yield key information on social organisation and individual status within Upper Palaeolithic societies. In traditional societies, personal ornaments play at least fourteen different and often multiple social functions (e.g. they may be used to beautify the body, function as 'love letters' in courtship, or as amulets, exchange media, expressions of individual and group identity, as well as markers of age, class, gender, wealth or social status). Here we attempt to identify the function of personal ornaments in Palaeolithic societies and understand the role of these objects in the earliest known symbolic cultures. We propose a research strategy based on methods and reference collections adapted to the informative potential of each archaeological context. Application of this approach to a number of case studies suggests that the reason underlying the emergence of body decoration may have been different according to circumstances. The earliest personal ornaments in Africa, dated to the Middle Stone Age and the beginning of the Later Stone Age, seem to have been used to maintain exchange systems. In Eurasia, at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic, personal ornaments seem rather to have served as individual, social and ethnocultural markers

Quantitative methods demonstrate that environment alone is an insufficient predictor of present-day language distributions in New Guinea

Environmental parameters constrain the distributions of plant and animal species. A key question is to what extent does environment influence human behavior. Decreasing linguistic diversity from the equator towards the poles suggests that ecological factors influence linguistic geography. However, attempts to quantify the role of environmental factors in shaping linguistic diversity remain inconclusive. To this end, we apply Ecological Niche Modelling methods to present-day language diversity in New Guinea. We define an Eco-Linguistic Niche (ELN) as the range of environmental conditions present in the territory of a population speaking a specific language or group of languages characterized by common language traits. In order to reconstruct the ELNs, we used Papuan and Austronesian language groups, transformed their geographical distributions into occurrence data, assembled available environmental data for New Guinea, and applied predictive architectures developed in the field of ecology to these data. We find no clear relationship between linguistic diversity and ELNs. This is particularly true when linguistic diversity is examined at the level of language groups. Language groups are variably dependent on environment and generally share their ELN with other language groups. This variability suggests that population dynamics, migration, linguistic drift, and socio-cultural mechanisms must be taken into consideration in order to better understand the myriad factors that shape language diversity

Case report: Histological findings of peri-appendicitis in three children with SARS-CoV-2 – related multisystem inflammatory syndrome: A mark for systemic inflammation?

Background: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a rare but serious condition that can potentially develop after SARS-CoV-2 infection in children. Gastrointestinal manifestation in MIS-C can mimic acute abdomen, potentially leading to unnecessary surgical treatment. Immune-mediated mechanisms seem to be a determining factor in its pathogenesis, and histological studies can help to shed light on this aspect. We describe three cases of children diagnosed with MIS-C that underwent appendectomy. Methods: We retrospectively collected the clinical features and histological findings of three previously healthy children who underwent appendectomy for clinical suspicion of acute appendicitis but were later diagnosed with MIS-C. Findings: The three children presentedwith prominent abdominalmanifestations andfever leading tothe suspicion of acute abdomen.Histological findings showed transmural and perivascular inflammation. Notably, CD68+ macrophages were predominant in the child with milder abdominal symptoms without cardiac injury, while CD3+ lymphocytes in the patient presented with more severe abdominal pain and cardiovascular involvement at admission. Interpretation: Gastrointestinal symptoms of children with MIS-C improve after proper immunomodulatory therapy, conversely showing inadequate response to surgical appendectomy. Histological findings revealed different inflammatory cell infiltration that primarily involved perivisceral fat and vessels, and subsequently mucosal tissue, in contrast to other forms of acute appendicitis. Our findings suggest that this kind of peri-appendicitis in MIS-C could represent a focal sign of systemic inflammation, with different histological patterns compared to other forms of acute appendicitis

Technological and functional analysis of 80–60 ka bone wedges from Sibudu (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

Fully shaped, morphologically standardized bone tools are generally considered reliable indicators of the emergence of modern behavior. We report the discovery of 23 double-beveled bone tools from ~ 80,000–60,000-year-old archaeological layers at Sibudu Cave in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We analyzed the texture of use-wear on the archaeological bone tools, and on bone tool replicas experimentally used in debarking trees, processing rabbit pelts with and without an ochre compound, digging in sediment in and outside a cave, and on ethnographic artefacts. Debarking trees and digging in humus-rich soil produce use-wear patterns closely matching those observed on most Sibudu tools. This tool type is associated with three different Middle Stone Age cultural traditions at Sibudu that span 20,000 years, yet they are absent at contemporaneous sites. Our results support a scenario in which some southern African early modern human groups developed and locally maintained specific, highly standardized cultural traits while sharing others at a sub-continental scale. We demonstrate that technological and texture analyses are effective means by which to infer past behaviors and assess the significance of prehistoric cultural innovations

The HotSpot Code as a Tool to Improve Risk Analysis During Emergencies: Predicting I-131 and CS-137 Dispersion in the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Conventional and non-conventional emergencies are among the most important safety and security concerns of the new millennium. Nuclear power and research plants, high-energy particle accelerators, radioactive substances for industrial and medical uses are all considered credible sources of threats both in warfare and in terror scenarios. Estimates of potential radiation releases of radioactive contamination related to these threats are therefore essential in order to prepare and respond to such scenarios. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate that computational modeling codes to simulate transport of radioactivity are extremely valuable to assess expected radiation levels and to improve risk analysis during emergencies helping the emergency planner and the first responders in the first hours of an occurring emergency

Development and performance testing of a miniaturized multi-sensor system combining MOX and PID for potential UAV application in TIC, VOC and CWA dispersion scenarios

The development of a tool to reduce the exposure of personnel in case of inten- tional or accidental toxic chemicals dispersion scenarios opens the field to new operational perspectives in the domain of operator safety and of critical infrastructure monitoring. The use of two sensors with different operating principles, metal oxide and photo-ionization detector, allows to confirm the presence of specific classes of chemicals in a contaminated area. All instruments are expected to be integrated into the payload of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and used for different purposes such as critical infrastructure surveillance focused on the volatile organic chemical and chemical warfare agents (CWA) detection and the post-incident of contamination level monitoring. In this paper, the authors presented the hardware set-up implemented and the test realized with CWAs simulants and will discuss the results obtained presenting advantages and disadvantages of this system in an application such as a UAV for the detection of chemical substances