Locating the Places People Meet New Sexual Partners in a Southern US City to Inform HIV/STI Prevention and Testing Efforts

Places where people meet new sex partners can be venues for the delivery of individual and environmental interventions that aim to reduce transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI). Using the Priorities for Local AIDS Control Efforts (PLACE) methodology we identified and characterized venues where people in a southeastern US city with high prevalence of both HIV and STI go to meet new sexual partners. A total of 123 community informants identified 143 public, private and commercial venues where people meet sex partners. Condoms were available at 14% of the venues, although 48% of venue representatives expressed a willingness to host HIV prevention efforts. Interviews with 373 people (229 men, 144 women) socializing at a random sample of 54 venues found high rates of HIV risk behaviors including concurrent sexual partnerships, transactional sex and illicit substance abuse. Risk behaviors were more common among those at certain venue types including those that may be overlooked by public health outreach efforts. The systematic methodology used was successful in locating venues where risky encounters are established and reveal opportunities for targeted HIV prevention and testing programs as well as research

East Chisenbury Midden 2015−17: further investigations of the late prehistoric midden deposits, enclosure and associated settlement

After a gap of almost two decades further investigations were initiated at this remarkable late prehistoric midden site, supported by Operation Nightingale/Breaking Ground Heritage. Geophysical survey clarified the extent of the broadly contemporary enclosure surrounding the midden, as well as other related features, while subsequent excavations provided new information on the midden, the enclosure and settlement. Two small trenches in the northeast half of the midden revealed a different sequence and produced far fewer finds than the 1992−3 excavations in the southwest half, demonstrating that it is not a homogeneous mound. A substantial ditch and associated bank, largely levelled by the late Roman period, may have been contemporary with or pre-dated the early development of the midden, while some 150 postholes attested to the presence of numerous roundhouses and other structures within the enclosure. Overall, a date range of c. 1000−500 cal. BC and possibly later is suggested from radiocarbon dating and pottery, the main phase of midden development perhaps later than the majority of the settlement. Furthermore, recent results of radiocarbon dating of material from the earlier excavations suggest the site sequence may continue as late as c. 400 cal. BC. Radiocarbon dating of the few human remains has also highlighted the likelihood that some were curated, the probable intervals between the dates of death and deposition ranging from a few decades to three centuries. Finds and environmental assemblages are generally consistent with those previously found, but a few sherds of scratch cordoned bowl represent a significant new discovery, as does a unique copper alloy ‘pendant’ of possible continental origin. Evidence now indicates that cattle, as well as sheep and pigs, were intensively managed and slaughtered on site, with the isotope data suggesting local origins for most of the animals, though some cattle may have been raised on pasturage further afield

Learning legacy: lessons learned from the London 2012 Games construction project: Geoarchaeology

Geoarchaeology is the process by which techniques from the fields of geography, geology and other earth sciences are used to understand and interpret archaeology. At the Olympic Park, a phase of intensive and wide-ranging geoarchaeological investigations revealed a buried landscape, several metres below the modern land surface. Compiling all the data recovered during the construction work, from the archaeological trenches and thousands of boreholes, it was possible to identify how the River Lea flood plain has changed over time and how the archaeological sites discovered related to the physical landscape at their time of occupation.

Development of Algorithms on the Grid

A parameter study involves analyzing situations myriad times with varying parameters and is both computationally- and data-intensive; yet there is a great need for these studies in many areas of science and engineering. In response to this need a module for the P-GRADE Portal was developed at MTA-SZTAKI in Budapest, Hungary. This allows researchers in all areas of science to perform and visualize these studies with ease as parallel applications on the P-GRADE Portal

By river, fields and factories: the making of the Lower Lea Valley – archaeological and cultural heritage investigations on the site of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Section 1: Palaeo-environmental

The announcement in July 2005 that London had won the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games was the catalyst for a comprehensive programme of archaeological excavation, building recording and photographic survey undertaken on the site of the Olympic Park. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has facilitated a rare opportunity to study and understand the evolution of a large area of valley landscape on the eastern fringes of London, before the construction of the main Olympic Stadium, numerous other venues and the necessary transport network throughout the Olympic Park.Important evidence for landscape evolution from the pre-Holocene onwards was obtained from extensive study of cores from over 4,000 boreholes, enabling a deposit model of the sub-surface sediments to be created. The surface topography has been mapped and the courses of the major palaeochannels identified, as well as probable areas of wetland and higher, drier areas suitable for occupation. This work has been undertaken in conjunction with an extensive programme of radiocarbon dating and palaeoenvironmental analysis.Archaeological finds include a Neolithic axe found beside a channel, the remnants of Bronze Age field systems and settlements, and Iron Age settlements with roundhouses, pits and associated structures. Limited archaeological evidence for Roman, Saxon and medieval occupation of this floodplain environment was uncovered but environmental data indicate activity in the wider landscape during these periods. One of the largest finds was a near-complete 19th century wooden boat which amongst other uses had been employed as a fowling vessel; bird shot was found during the excavation and cleaning of the boat.The excavations revealed a cobbled Victorian street and buildings, and associated industrial features, that had been buried under several metres of made ground. In fact, a dominant archaeological feature from the site is the deep made-ground, averaging c. 4.5 m thick, that overlay the former agricultural landscape, both to consolidate the ground for the construction of factories and to raise its levels above the floodwaters of the, by now, wholly canalised and controlled channels of the River Lea. Preliminary examination of these deposits, which were encountered in almost all of the archaeological trenches, indicates a substantial quantity of material was deposited on the site from the 19th century onwards.This represents the detailed palaeoenvironmental specialist reports, summaries of which are available in the published report (A.B. Powell (2012) By River, Fields and Factories: The Making of the Lower Lea Valley – archaeological and cultural heritage investigations on the site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Wessex Archeology report 29)

Late prehistoric settlement and post-medieval industrial activity on the route of the A3 Hindhead Improvement Scheme

A programme of archaeological works, undertaken in advance of improvements to the A3 London to Portsmouth road at Hindhead, Surrey, saw the investigation of 21 mitigation sites along the proposed 6.7km route between Bramshott Common and Thursley.Although archaeological remains were relatively sparse along much of the route, a number of discoveries were made that add to the known archaeology of this part of Surrey. These included residual Neolithic finds, and the discovery of a small Middle/Late Bronze Age settlement towards the northern end of the route.The examination of peat deposits in Boundless Copse demonstrates initial formation in the Early–Middle Saxon period, and contains a record of local heathland expansion, development of beech woodland and increase of pastoral activity during the Late Saxon/medieval period. Field boundaries and land use divisions of probable post-medieval date were examined at various points along the route, and a number of lime kilns, shown to date from the early 17th to early 18th centuries, were excavated

Growth in the Garden of Venice -- sustainable development in Sant'Erasmo.

The island of Sant'Erasmo, or "The Garden of Venice," was once the agricultural center of the Venetian lagoon; however now 1/3 of farmland is abandoned, making it a target for development. To preserve the rural landscape, typologies were defined for the existing buildings for use in future construction. Furthermore, a system was devised to utilize the abandoned farm fields and waterways on the island that will ultimately maintain the historical integrity and ambiance characteristic of the Venetian lagoon

Results of an archaeological watching brief on land adjacent to Warnford Road, Corhampton, Hampshire

An archaeological watching brief undertaken during the redevelopment of land adjacent to Warnford Road, Corhampton, Hampshire revealed Early Holocene stratigraphic sequences including a palaeosol within which molluscs and pollen were preserved. A radiocarbon date of 9160–8790 cal BC was obtained on charcoal from the palaeosol. A Middle Iron Age ditch into which an apparently in situ inhumation burial, radiocarbon dated to 400–230 cal BC, had been placed at its base, was also found