“Late Hallstatt” hillforts in the Western Carpathians : new contribution to an old discussion

The article presents new research on fortified settlements from the Early Iron Age in the Orava and Dunajec river valleys. Based on the characteristics of the construction of the fortifications and similarities in terms of material culture, we propose recognizing the hillforts discovered here as a manifestation of one cultural and settlement horizon related to the so-called Pre-Púchov stage. The radiocarbon determinations obtained for the contexts stratigraphically related to the ramparts from the Nižná-Ostražica, Zabrzeż-Babia Góra, and Maszkowice-Góra Zyndrama sites are already located on the calibration curve after the so-called Hallstatt plateau and allow this horizon to be dated to the 4th century BC, i.e. to the times corresponding to the La Tène B1–B2 phases. Our observations confirm the opinions appearing in more recent literature about the need to date the Pre-Púchov stage in Slovakia earlier, and discuss the thesis about the continuation of settlement at the beginning of the La Tène period. With regard to the Polish Carpathian zone, arguments indicating the possibility of the survival of settlements with Early Iron Age traditions up to the 4th century BC are presented for the first time. This allows us to assume that the process of the formation of the cultural tradition of the La Tène period here progressed in a similar manner to Slovakia, and it was not solely the result of migration from the latter.Príspevok prezentuje nové výskumy na opevnených sídliskách z doby halštatskej v doline Oravy a Dunajca. Na základe charakteristiky výstavby opevnení a podobností z pohľadu hmotnej kultúry, považujeme prezentované hradiská za prejav jedného kultúrneho a sídliskového horizontu (tzv. predpúchovský horizont). Analyzované radiokarbónové vzorky získané z kontextov stratigraficky súvisiacych s valmi z lokalít Nižná-Ostražica, Zabrzeż-Babia Góra a Maszkowice-Góra Zyndrama, sa nachádzajú na kalibračnej krivke už po tzv. halštatskom plató a umožňujú tento horizont datovať. do 4. storočia pred Kristom, teda do čias zodpovedajúcich laténskej fáze LT B1–B2. Výsledky potvrdzujú názory objavujúce sa v novšej literatúre o potrebe skoršieho datovania predpúchovského horizontu na Slovensku a tiež o pokračovaní osídlenia na začiatku doby laténskej. V súvislosti s karpatskou oblasťou na území Poľska sú po prvýkrát prezentované argumenty naznačujúce možnosť prežívania osád s tradíciami v staršej doby železnej až do 4. storočia pred Kristom. To umožňuje predpokladať, že proces formovania kultúrnej tradície doby laténskej tu prebiehal podobne ako na Slovensku a nebol len dôsledkom neskoršej migrácie.The article presents new research on fortified settlements from the Early Iron Age in the Orava and Dunajec river valleys. Based on the characteristics of the construction of the fortifications and similarities in terms of material culture, we propose recognizing the hillforts discovered here as a manifestation of one cultural and settlement horizon related to the so-called Pre-Púchov stage. The radiocarbon determinations obtained for the contexts stratigraphically related to the ramparts from the Nižná-Ostražica, Zabrzeż-Babia Góra, and Maszkowice-Góra Zyndrama sites are already located on the calibration curve after the so-called Hallstatt plateau and allow this horizon to be dated to the 4th century BC, i.e. to the times corresponding to the La Tène B1–B2 phases. Our observations confirm the opinions appearing in more recent literature about the need to date the Pre-Púchov stage in Slovakia earlier, and discuss the thesis about the continuation of settlement at the beginning of the La Tène period. With regard to the Polish Carpathian zone, arguments indicating the possibility of the survival of settlements with Early Iron Age traditions up to the 4th century BC are presented for the first time. This allows us to assume that the process of the formation of the cultural tradition of the La Tène period here progressed in a similar manner to Slovakia, and it was not solely the result of migration from the latter

The magnetic survey of the early Scythian burial site and settlements in the Turan-Uyuk valley in Tuva

In 2019, Polish archaeologists took part in an expedition of the Hermitage Museum, led by K.V. Chugunov, in Chinge-Tey cemetery, Tuva (Russian Federation). This paper presents the result of magnetic surveys carried out within the so-called western chain of barrows and the around the princely barrow of Chinge-Tey I. This method of non-invasive research is very well suited to the landscape and has produced a significant body of information. Among others, the survey of the western chain identified a stone mantle in barrow 8, which makes it different from other barrows from this group, whose mounds were built of earth. Another important result is the identification of a stone circle surrounding a cult feature (certainly associated with eschatological rituals) known as the northern complex. The presence of the circle came as a surprise for the investigators of the site, as it does not manifest itself at all on the surface of the site. On the other hand, it is worth noting one negative result, which nevertheless allows for some conclusions, namely the lack of detectable anomalies connected with one of the tombs in the vicinity of Chinge-Tey I (barrow 15). Despite being clearly discernible in the landscape, and even more evident in LIDAR images, the barrow is invisible on images produced with a magnetometer. This means that one cannot rule out a possibility that other structures undetectable by magnetic surveys may be present within the investigated part of the cemetery. Nevertheless, one cannot but arrive at the conclusion that the results generated by the magnetic research provide significant information concerning the spatial arrangement of the cemetery and are helpful in planning archaeological excavation

Machine learning algorithms for systematic review: reducing workload in a preclinical review of animal studies and reducing human screening error

BACKGROUND: Here, we outline a method of applying existing machine learning (ML) approaches to aid citation screening in an on-going broad and shallow systematic review of preclinical animal studies. The aim is to achieve a high-performing algorithm comparable to human screening that can reduce human resources required for carrying out this step of a systematic review. METHODS: We applied ML approaches to a broad systematic review of animal models of depression at the citation screening stage. We tested two independently developed ML approaches which used different classification models and feature sets. We recorded the performance of the ML approaches on an unseen validation set of papers using sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. We aimed to achieve 95% sensitivity and to maximise specificity. The classification model providing the most accurate predictions was applied to the remaining unseen records in the dataset and will be used in the next stage of the preclinical biomedical sciences systematic review. We used a cross-validation technique to assign ML inclusion likelihood scores to the human screened records, to identify potential errors made during the human screening process (error analysis). RESULTS: ML approaches reached 98.7% sensitivity based on learning from a training set of 5749 records, with an inclusion prevalence of 13.2%. The highest level of specificity reached was 86%. Performance was assessed on an independent validation dataset. Human errors in the training and validation sets were successfully identified using the assigned inclusion likelihood from the ML model to highlight discrepancies. Training the ML algorithm on the corrected dataset improved the specificity of the algorithm without compromising sensitivity. Error analysis correction leads to a 3% improvement in sensitivity and specificity, which increases precision and accuracy of the ML algorithm. CONCLUSIONS: This work has confirmed the performance and application of ML algorithms for screening in systematic reviews of preclinical animal studies. It has highlighted the novel use of ML algorithms to identify human error. This needs to be confirmed in other reviews with different inclusion prevalence levels, but represents a promising approach to integrating human decisions and automation in systematic review methodology

Population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia.

Western Eurasia witnessed several large-scale human migrations during the Holocene <sup>1-5</sup> . Here, to investigate the cross-continental effects of these migrations, we shotgun-sequenced 317 genomes-mainly from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods-from across northern and western Eurasia. These were imputed alongside published data to obtain diploid genotypes from more than 1,600 ancient humans. Our analyses revealed a 'great divide' genomic boundary extending from the Black Sea to the Baltic. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers were highly genetically differentiated east and west of this zone, and the effect of the neolithization was equally disparate. Large-scale ancestry shifts occurred in the west as farming was introduced, including near-total replacement of hunter-gatherers in many areas, whereas no substantial ancestry shifts happened east of the zone during the same period. Similarly, relatedness decreased in the west from the Neolithic transition onwards, whereas, east of the Urals, relatedness remained high until around 4,000 BP, consistent with the persistence of localized groups of hunter-gatherers. The boundary dissolved when Yamnaya-related ancestry spread across western Eurasia around 5,000 BP, resulting in a second major turnover that reached most parts of Europe within a 1,000-year span. The genetic origin and fate of the Yamnaya have remained elusive, but we show that hunter-gatherers from the Middle Don region contributed ancestry to them. Yamnaya groups later admixed with individuals associated with the Globular Amphora culture before expanding into Europe. Similar turnovers occurred in western Siberia, where we report new genomic data from a 'Neolithic steppe' cline spanning the Siberian forest steppe to Lake Baikal. These prehistoric migrations had profound and lasting effects on the genetic diversity of Eurasian populations

Precipitation of jarosite as a purifying procedure of the solution obtained after leaching of zinc secondary material

Zinc oxide derived from processing of the slime obtained in an industrial process of electrolytic zinc obtaining was leached with the aqueous sulfuric acid solution. The effect of temperature and time on the extent of leaching was determined. The conditions lead to zinc recovery of about 90%. It was found that the extent of arsenic leaching did not depend upon the time and temperature of leaching. Next the conditions of the solution purification procedure were determined. It was found that jarosite formation as well as the degree of arsenic removal is connected with trivalent iron concentration in the solution

Hybrid QRS detector based on dynamic reconfigurable field programmable analog array

W artykule zaprezentowano nową koncepcję układu detekcji w czasie rzeczywistym zespołu QRS z przebiegu elektrokardiograficzngo. W detektorze wykorzystano programowalną matrycę analogową AN221E04 firmy Anadigm. Parametry wybranych bloków są na bieżąco zmieniane w zależności od zmian parametrów przebiegu EKG dzięki dynamicznej rekonfigurowalności układu. Uzyskano bardzo krótki czas reakcji detektora na wykryty zespół QRS przy zadowalającej skuteczności detekcji. Opracowany detektor może znaleźć zastosowanie w aplikacjach biomedycznych wymagających wykrywania zespołu QRS w przebiegu EKG z małym opóźnieniem czasowym.In many applications it is important to detect the QRS complex in the ECG waveform with possibly low time delay. Traditional software detectors of the QRS complex implement algorithms, usually based on cascades of digital filters, introduce delays up to parts of a second. Hardware QRS detectors (Fig. 1) fulfill the low delay requirements, but have worse adaptive features for the changing ECG shape. In this paper a new approach to QRS detection is presented. The proposed solution implements a classical detector structure in a Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA) i.e. AN221E04 circuit from the AnadigmŽ company - Fig. 3. The most interesting feature of the FPAA is the dynamic reconfigurability. This solution makes it possible to modify the parameters of particular blocks of the detector or even the whole structure during runtime, without any changes in hardware and disturbance of the system functionality. Important parameters of particular blocks of the QRS detector are modified on-the-fly according to changes observed in the ECG signal. New data are calculated by the AD7020 microcontroller and downloaded to the FPAA using dynamic reconfigurability after each QRS detection. The prototype QRS detector was tested using a real ECG signal taken from Mit-Bih Arrythmia Database. The results obtained in the prototype circuit (Table 1) show that the detection delay is really small. The error rate of the QRS detection is low and can be acceptable in most real time applications

Assessment of water quality changes in selected lakes of Poznań Lakeland in 2004-2009

Po przystąpieniu do Unii Europejskiej Polska zobowiązana jest do wdrożenia Ramowej Dyrektywy Wodnej (2000/60/WE), której głównym celem jest osiągnięcie do roku 2015 dobrego stanu ekologicznego i chemicznego wód powierzchniowych. Niestety, jak wykazują wyniki monitoringu podstawowego i regionalnego wykonanego w latach 1999-2006 przez WIOŚ w Poznaniu spośród zbadanych 84 jezior (o powierzchni powyżej 100 ha lub mniejszych, ważnych dla regionu ze względu na walory gospodarcze, przyrodnicze i rekreacyjne), jedynie trzy charakteryzowały się bardzo dobrym stanem wód zaliczanym do I klasy czystości. Wody klasy II oznaczono w 28 jeziorach o łącznej powierzchni 4783,5 ha, tj. 27,7% powierzchni przebadanej w okresie ośmiu lat, natomiast wody III klasy czystości wyznaczono dla 55 zbiorników o łącznej powierzchni 7216,4 ha, tj. 41,9% powierzchni zbadanych jezior. W 38 zbadanych jeziorach jakość wód nie odpowiadała żadnej z klas czystości, dlatego zostały one uznane za pozaklasowe, silnie zanieczyszczone (Stan środowiska w Wielkopolsce, WIOŚ 2007). Większość zbiorników w tym okresie w ramach monitoringu badana była tylko raz, dlatego badania te nie są wystarczające do analizowania zmian jakości wody w ujęciu średniookresowym. Wymaga to bardziej szczegółowych obserwacji. Celem badań przedstawionych w niniejszej pracy była ocena zmian jakości wody w wybranych jeziorach Pojezierza Poznańskiego w latach 2004-2009.The results described in this paper contain a fragment of longterm studies on water quality changes conducted since 1999 in selected lakes on the area of Poznań Lakeland. The research realized in 2004÷2009 covered three lakes: Niepruszewskie Lake, Pamiątkowskie Lake and Strykowskie Lake. These lakes are exposed to significant pollution because of agricultural character of the catchment areas and large number of residential and recreational buildings which are not connected to the sewage system. Water quality assessment was performed on the basis of the Decree of the Minister of Environment in 2004 (Journal of Laws No. 32, item. 284), which had been in force in water monitoring until 2008. Average annual values of the studied physical and chemical parameters of water quality were found among the "very good" and "good" classes in most cases. Poor and bad water quality in lakes was mainly determined by the adverse oxygen conditions and high values of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5). It indicated a strong eutrophication level. The study showed a decrease in phosphates, nitrates and ammonia concentrations in the waters, however an increased trend was found in reference to the concentrations of sulphates and calcium. Other components showed an irregular variation in the individual years