Towards an understanding of the Assyrian Empire’s defence strategies in the east A case study from the Peshdar Plain (Dinka Settlement Complex and Gawr Miran)

The Assyrians actively engaged themselves in construction in the heartland and in the numerous provinces of the Empire. Textual sources (especially royal inscriptions and correspondence), as well as archaeological excavations, mention and sometimes document some of these building programs, for example, Sargon II’s transformation of the city Harhar into a provincial capital named after himself (Kar-Sharrukin), Sargon II’s construction of a palace at Carchemesh (as recorded in a newly published cylinder inscription), and Ashurbanipal’s rebuilding and expansion of the temple of the moon-god Sîn at Harran. This paper will present the available (textual) evidence for Assyrian building activities in Harran, an important cult and administrative center in the northwestern part of the Empire, and will attempt to contextualize the eighth- and seventh-century construction projects there by looking at building activities in other Assyrian provincial centers

Contextualizing the last days of the kingdom of Israel

Considerable scholarly effort has been made trying to lift the heavy veil shrouding the details of the history of the final two decades of the kingdom of Israel, including the identity of the Assyrian ruler who conquered its capital Samaria and captured its last king Hoshea. Because there are significant discrepancies in extant primary sources, in particular between the Old Testament and Assyrian inscriptions, scholars have yet to satisfactorily answer the most important questions about this crucial period of history of the Levant. Assyrian sources, especially royal inscriptions, may provide some key pieces to the puzzle, but what can they tell us about the last twenty to thirty years of the kingdom of Israel, the fall of Samaria, and the fate of Hoshea? This paper will examine the available inscriptions of the eighth- and seventh-century Assyrian kings in order to elucidate what information that genre of Akkadian text can and cannot provide with regard to the history of Israel. Special attention will be given to potential lost sources to determine if new Assyrian texts could really help scholars solve some of the mysteries of the Bible. This paper will serve as a general introduction to the more topic-specific papers given in Part I of this book. Nevertheless, I do hope to say a few things not covered in the other presentations. As a word of warning, at least one section of this paper will be purely speculative. However, these conjectures will be deeply rooted in the extant source material of Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II

A method for designing flow-through chromatography processes

Continuous manufacturing is expected to increase the productivity of the production of biologics such as protein drugs. However, it is not easy to build the continuous process especially for downstream processing as many unit operations (chromatography and membrane filtration) are involved. An operation method known as flow-through chromatography (FTC) is considered to be an efficient method for separating two components as the flow is continuous. In FTC, a target protein is eluted from the chromatography column without adsorption whereas contaminants are strongly bound. Since at least two different modes of chromatography are needed in order to remove contaminants, two FTC columns have to be connected in order to build the continuous process. This is not an easy task since the mobile phase properties (pH, salt, buffer ions) are different for the two columns. In this paper, we developed a method for designing FTC processes based on the mechanistic models that we have developed for linear gradient elution (LGE) of proteins. The distribution coefficient K as a function of salt concentration, I determined from LGE data were used for the simulation. It was found that the process is quite sensitive to a small change in I. This indicates that FTC processes are carefully monitored and controlled for the stable operation

カガワケン ニ ブンプ スル テシマイシセイ セキゾウ ブンカザイ ノ フウカ テイド ノ ヒョウカ

Weathering grade of Teshima stone, Miocene lapilli tuff, used in lithic cultural heritage in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan was evaluated by using colorimeter, magnetic susceptibility meter, moisture meter and schmidt rock hammer. The stone pagodas have been exposed to weathering for 200 - 600 years, and have developed surface erosion due to weathering. Basaltic rock fragments in Teshima stone are slightly weathered based on necked-eye observation with increasing weathering period. L*-value of color index increased with increasing weathering period, however a*- and b*-values of color index and magnetic susceptibility are constant with increasing weathering period. Increasing of L* value is derived from weathering of basaltic rock fragments in Teshima stone. The results of measurement of a*-, b*- values and magnetic susceptibility suggest that mineralogical weathering such as iron mineral concentration has not occurred. The hardness of excavated cave wall surface on quarry of Teshima stone using schmidt rock hammer decreases in the entrance of the cave. Weathering properties of Teshima stone are characterized by surface erosion and rapid decreasing of rock surface hardness

Precancerous Pyloric Gland Metaplasia in the Biliary Epithelium Associated with Congenital Biliary Dilatation in a Three-Month-Old Infant

Pyloric gland metaplasia in the biliary epithelium is a precancerous lesion and has been confirmed in patients with congenital biliary dilatation presenting with overt biliary tract cancer. A patient was found to have an intra-abdominal cyst on fetal ultrasonography and was born at 37 weeks of gestation with a body weight of 2,636 g. Abdominal distension and repeated vomiting appeared 2 days after birth. Congenital biliary dilatation was diagnosed by imaging, wherein the common bile duct was enlarged to 9–10 cm in size, and the surrounding organs were extensively compressed; however, there was no sign of pancreatitis or cholangitis. Biliary drainage was performed through the gallbladder at 6 days of age, but it was insufficient because of the narrow and twisted cystic duct and changed to common bile duct at 18 days to relieve the compression. Because the body weight gain was poor due to loss of large amount of bile, the dilated bile duct and gallbladder were resected and hepatic duct Roux-Y jejunostomy was performed at 115 days of age with 4,500 g of body weight. Intraoperative imaging showed a pancreaticobiliary maljunction, and the pancreatic enzyme activities of the bile in the biliary system were remarkably elevated. Histopathological examination revealed pyloric gland metaplasia in the gallbladder epithelium and cystic duct. The patient is now over 2 years old and has been doing well without any complications. Based on our experience, precancerous pyloric gland metaplasia of the biliary epithelium may already occur even in a 3-month-old infant presenting with congenital biliary dilatation