The brick structures of Go Thap – tombs or temples?

The 1980s and 1990s excavations of the archaeological site of Go Thap in the Mekong Delta resulted in unearthing a number of brick structures. In association with the structures precious objects were found, including over three hundred gold leaves. More than half of the gold leaves were decorated with pictures of men, gods, animals, weapons and auspicious objects, and some of them were inscribed. In addition to the precious objects, the structures were also reported to contain human ashes. In the first part of this paper, I will examine the objects closely, especially the gold leaves, discovered at Go Thap. I will then compare them with similar objects originating from other archaeological sites of Southeast Asia and with objects described in traditional Indian manuals written in Sanskrit and dealing with temple architecture and temple building rituals. On the basis of this comparison, I will propose the hypothesis that the ‘brick structures’ unearthed in Go Thap are not tombs but remains of Hindu shrines, and the associated materials are not crematory remains but traces of consecration ceremonies performed for shrines and temples

Warunki depozycji przybrzeznych utworow dolnego pleistocenu wyspy Favignana

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Acetonitrile, the polarity chameleon

From the issue entitled "Trends 2010/Microdialysis-based sensing in clinical applications/Transcriptomics in ecotoxicology/Jean-Philippe Frimat wins ABC Best Paper Award"Acetonitrile (CH 3 CN, ACN) is a relatively nontoxic, highly volatile and aprotic polar organic solvent. ACN plays a key role as an extraction and deproteinization medium for a variety of pre-purification and concentration techniques using liquid-liquid extraction, solid-phase extraction (SPE) or microextraction (SPME) protocols. In terms of polarity, acetonitrile shows a number of unexpected physicochemical properties that may strongly affect the final results of analytical protocols applied in detection and separation science. Strong hydrogen bonding and the creation of low-polar self-associated forms of acetonitrile affect a number of physical and chemical properties of acetonitrile-water mixtures. The relatively low polarity of pure ACN can easily be disrupted by the presence of a small amount of water, which is usually present in either the raw biological sample or the ACN itself. The phenomenon of acetonitrile-water phase splitting at subambient temperature provides a convenient way to deproteinize biological samples and to preconcentrate target analytes.P. K. Zarzycki, M. B. Zarzycka, M. M. Ślączka and V. L. Clifto