A veritable confusion: use and abuse of isotope analysis in archaeology

The expansion of isotope analyses has transformed the study of past migration and mobility, sometimes providing unexpected and intriguing results. This has, in turn, led to media attention (and concomitant misrepresentation) and scepticism from some archaeologists. Such scepticism is healthy and not always without foundation. Isotope analysis is yet to reach full maturity and challenging issues remain, concerning diagenesis, biosphere mapping resolution and knowledge of the drivers of variation. Bold and over-simplistic interpretations have been presented, especially when relying on single isotope proxies, and researchers have at times been accused of following specific agendas. It is therefore vital to integrate archaeological and environmental evidence to support interpretation. Most importantly, the use of multiple isotope proxies is key: isotope analysis is an exclusive approach and therefore single analyses provide only limited resolution. The growth in isotope research has led to a growth in rebuttals and counter-narratives. Such rebuttals warrant the same critical appraisal that is applied to original research, both of evidence for their assertions and the potential for underlying agendas. This paper takes a case study-based approach focusing on pig movements to Neolithic henge complexes to explore the dangers encountered in secondary use of isotope data

Measuring motion with kinematically redundant accelerometer arrays: theory, simulation and implementation

This work presents two schemes of measuring the linear and angular kinematics of a rigid body using a kinematically redundant array of triple-axis accelerometers with potential applications in biomechanics. A novel angular velocity estimation algorithm is proposed and evaluated that can compensate for angular velocity errors using measurements of the direction of gravity. Analysis and discussion of optimal sensor array characteristics are provided. A damped 2 axis pendulum was used to excite all 6 DoF of the a suspended accelerometer array through determined complex motion and is the basis of both simulation and experimental studies. The relationship between accuracy and sensor redundancy is investigated for arrays of up to 100 triple axis (300 accelerometer axes) accelerometers in simulation and 10 equivalent sensors (30 accelerometer axes) in the laboratory test rig. The paper also reports on the sensor calibration techniques and hardware implementation

2MASS Galaxies in the Fornax Cluster Spectroscopic Survey

The Fornax Cluster Spectroscopic Survey (FCSS) is an all-object survey of a region around the Fornax Cluster of galaxies undertaken using the 2dF multi-object spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Its aim was to obtain spectra for a complete sample of all objects with 16.5 < b_j < 19.7 irrespective of their morphology (i.e. including `stars', `galaxies' and `merged' images). We explore the extent to which (nearby) cluster galaxies are present in 2MASS. We consider the reasons for the omission of 2MASS galaxies from the FCSS and vice versa. We consider the intersection (2.9 square degrees on the sky) of our data set with the infra-red 2 Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS), using both the 2MASS Extended Source Catalogue (XSC) and the Point Source Catalogue (PSC). We match all the XSC objects to FCSS counterparts by position and also extract a sample of galaxies, selected by their FCSS redshifts, from the PSC. We confirm that all 114 XSC objects in the overlap sample are galaxies, on the basis of their FCSS velocities. A total of 23 Fornax Cluster galaxies appear in the matched data, while, as expected, the remainder of the sample lie at redshifts out to z = 0.2 (the spectra show that 61% are early type galaxies, 18% are intermediate types and 21% are strongly star forming).The PSC sample turns out to contain twice as many galaxies as does the XSC. However, only one of these 225 galaxies is a (dwarf) cluster member. On the other hand, galaxies which are unresolved in the 2MASS data (though almost all are resolved in the optical) amount to 71% of the non-cluster galaxies with 2MASS detections and have redshifts out to z=0.32.Comment: 5 pages, accepted by A&A, resubmitted due to missing reference

A veritable confusion: use and abuse of isotope analysis in archaeology

The expansion of isotope analyses has transformed the study of past migration and mobility, sometimes providing unexpected and intriguing results. This has, in turn, led to media attention (and concomitant misrepresentation) and scepticism from some archaeologists. Such scepticism is healthy and not always without foundation. Isotope analysis is yet to reach full maturity and challenging issues remain, concerning diagenesis, biosphere mapping resolution and knowledge of the drivers of variation. Bold and over-simplistic interpretations have been presented, especially when relying on single isotope proxies, and researchers have at times been accused of following specific agendas. It is therefore vital to integrate archaeological and environmental evidence to support interpretation. Most importantly, the use of multiple isotope proxies is key: isotope analysis is an exclusive approach and therefore single analyses provide only limited resolution. The growth in isotope research has led to a growth in rebuttals and counter-narratives. Such rebuttals warrant the same critical appraisal that is applied to original research, both of evidence for their assertions and the potential for underlying agendas. This paper takes a case study-based approach focusing on pig movements to Neolithic henge complexes to explore the dangers encountered in secondary use of isotope data

The extent to which education interventions have been studied and the range of effects typically observed.

!e EEF’s education database is comprised of thousands of education research studies from across the globe, all focused on measuring the impact of education interventions on students’ outcomes. !e studies in the database have been coded to enable analysis and searching across a range of factors, including country, pupil age and type of intervention. Rather than simply focusing on the impact of interventions, the database also records information about the delivery of interventions (such as the frequency and intensity of the intervention) and detailed quantitative impact data, such as variations in e#ects based on subject or delivery mechanism (such as whether an intervention is delivered by a quali"ed teacher or a classroom assistant). Impact is translated from standardised e#ect sizes to ‘months of learning’ for ease of communication and to aid discussion around the impact of interventions. Months of learning, communicated as a headline "gure for each approach, however, can hide important variation caused by duration of intervention, group size and the test measures used. Building the database containing all of this data allows researchers to examine which factors are driving the impact behind the overall average to "nd the signal amongst the noise. It is this detailed data which makes this education database unique. It will signi"cantly reduce the time and e#ort needed to review the impact of di#erent types of interventions, and to analyse the factors that increase or reduce e#ectivenes

A robust morphological classification of high-redshift galaxies using support vector machines on seeing limited images. II. Quantifying morphological k-correction in the COSMOS field at 1<z<2: Ks band vs. I band

We quantify the effects of \emph{morphological k-correction} at $1<z<2$ by comparing morphologies measured in the K and I-bands in the COSMOS area. Ks-band data have indeed the advantage of probing old stellar populations for $z<2$, enabling a determination of galaxy morphological types unaffected by recent star formation. In paper I we presented a new non-parametric method to quantify morphologies of galaxies on seeing limited images based on support vector machines. Here we use this method to classify $\sim$$50 000$ $Ks$ selected galaxies in the COSMOS area observed with WIRCam at CFHT. The obtained classification is used to investigate the redshift distributions and number counts per morphological type up to $z\sim2$ and to compare to the results obtained with HST/ACS in the I-band on the same objects from other works. We associate to every galaxy with $Ks<21.5$ and $z<2$ a probability between 0 and 1 of being late-type or early-type. The classification is found to be reliable up to $z\sim2$. The mean probability is $p\sim0.8$. It decreases with redshift and with size, especially for the early-type population but remains above $p\sim0.7$. The classification is globally in good agreement with the one obtained using HST/ACS for $z<1$. Above $z\sim1$, the I-band classification tends to find less early-type galaxies than the Ks-band one by a factor $\sim$1.5 which might be a consequence of morphological k-correction effects. We argue therefore that studies based on I-band HST/ACS classifications at $z>1$ could be underestimating the elliptical population. [abridged]Comment: accepted for publication in A&A, updated with referee comments, 12 pages, 10 figure

The SWIRE-VVDS-CFHTLS surveys: stellar mass assembly over the last 10 Gyears. Evidence for a major build up of the red sequence between z=2 and z=1

(abridged abstract) We present an analysis of the stellar mass growth over the last 10 Gyrs using a large 3.6$\mu$ selected sample. We split our sample into active (blue) and quiescent (red) galaxies. Our measurements of the K-LFs and LD evolution support the idea that a large fraction of galaxies is already assembled at $z\sim 1.2$. Based on the analysis of the evolution of the stellar mass-to-light ratio (in K-band) for the spectroscopic sub-sample, we derive the stellar mass density for the entire sample. We find that the global evolution of the stellar mass density is well reproduced by the star formation rate derived from UV dust corrected measurements. Over the last 8Gyrs, we observe that the stellar mass density of the active population remains approximately constant while it gradually increases for the quiescent population over the same timescale. As a consequence, the growth of the stellar mass in the quiescent population must be due to the shutoff of star formation in active galaxies that migrate into the quiescent population. From $z=2$ to $z=1.2$, we observe a major build-up of the quiescent population with an increase by a factor of 10 in stellar mass, suggesting that we are observing the epoch when an increasing fraction of galaxies are ending their star formation activity and start to build up the red sequence.Comment: Accepted to A&A with major changes. 1 table and 13 figure

Toxic metal enrichment and boating intensity: sediment records of antifoulant copper in shallow lakes of eastern England

Tributyltin (TBT), an aqueous biocide derived from antifouling paint pollution, is known to have impacted coastal marine ecosystems, and has been reported in the sediment of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, a network of rivers and shallow lakes in eastern England. In the marine environment, the 1987 TBT ban has resulted in expanded use of alternative biocides, raising the question of whether these products too have impacted the Broads ecosystem and freshwaters in general. Here we examine the lake sediment record in the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads for contamination by copper (Cu) (as an active biocide agent) and zinc (Zn) (as a component of booster biocides), to assess their occurrence and potential for causing environmental harm in freshwater ecosystems. We find that, after the introduction of leisure boating, there is a statistically significant difference in Cu enrichment between heavily and lightly boated sites, while no such difference exists prior to this time. At the heavily boated sites the onset of Cu enrichment coincides with a period of rapid increase in leisure boating. Such enrichment is maintained to the present day, with some evidence of continued increase. We conclude that Cu-based antifouling has measurably contaminated lakes exposed to boating, at concentrations high enough to cause ecological harm. Similar findings can be expected at other boated freshwater ecosystems elsewhere in the world

The PEP survey: clustering of infrared-selected galaxies and structure formation at z~2 in the GOODS South

ABRIDGED-This paper presents the first direct estimate of the 3D clustering properties of far-infrared sources up to z~3. This has been possible thanks to the Pacs Evolutionary Probe (PEP) survey of the GOODS South field performed with the PACS instrument onboard the Herschel Satellite. An analysis of the two-point correlation function over the whole redshift range spanned by the data reports for the correlation length, r_0~6.3 Mpc and r_0~6.7 Mpc, respectively at 100um and 160um, corresponding to dark matter halo masses M>~10^{12.4} M_sun. Objects at z~2 instead seem to be more strongly clustered, with r_0~19 Mpc and r_0~17 Mpc in the two considered PACS channels. This dramatic increase of the correlation length between z~1 and z~2 is connected with the presence of a wide, M>~10^{14} M_sun, filamentary structure which includes more than 50% of the sources detected at z~2. An investigation of the properties of such sources indicates the possibility for boosted star-forming activity in those which reside within the overdense environment with respect of more isolated galaxies found in the same redshift range. Lastly, we also present our results on the evolution of the relationship between luminous and dark matter in star-forming galaxies between z~1 and z~2. We find that the increase of (average) stellar mass in galaxies between z~1 and z~2 is about a factor 10 lower than that of the dark matter haloes hosting such objects ([z~1]/[z~2] ~ 0.4 vs M_{halo}[z~1]/M_{halo}[z~2] ~ 0.04). Our findings agree with the evolutionary picture of downsizing whereby massive galaxies at z~2 were more actively forming stars than their z~1 counterparts, while at the same time contained a lower fraction of their mass in the form of luminous matter.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, MNRAS accepte

The Vimos VLT Deep Survey: Global properties of 20000 galaxies in the I_AB<=22.5 WIDE survey

The VVDS-Wide survey has been designed with the general aim of tracing the large-scale distribution of galaxies at z~1 on comoving scales reaching ~100Mpc/h, while providing a good control of cosmic variance over areas as large as a few square degrees. This is achieved by measuring redshifts with VIMOS at the ESO VLT to a limiting magnitude I_AB=22.5, targeting four independent fields with size up to 4 sq.deg. each. The whole survey covers 8.6 sq.deg., here we present the general properties of the current redshift sample. This includes 32734 spectra in the four regions (19977 galaxies, 304 type I AGNs, and 9913 stars), covering a total area of 6.1 sq.deg, with a sampling rate of 22 to 24%. The redshift success rate is above 90% independently of magnitude. It is the currently largest area coverage among redshift surveys reaching z~1. We give the mean N(z) distribution averaged over 6.1 sq.deg. Comparing galaxy densities from the four fields shows that in a redshift bin Deltaz=0.1 at z~1 one still has factor-of-two variations over areas as large as ~0.25 sq.deg. This level of cosmic variance agrees with that obtained by integrating the galaxy two-point correlation function estimated from the F22 field alone, and is also in fairly good statistical agreement with that predicted by the Millennium mocks. The variance estimated over the survey fields shows explicitly how clustering results from deep surveys of even ~1 sq.deg. size should be interpreted with caution. This paper accompanies the public release of the first 18143 redshifts of the VVDS-Wide survey from the 4 sq.deg. contiguous area of the F22 field at RA=22h, publicly available at http://cencosw.oamp.frComment: Accepted for publication on Astronomy & Astrophysic