Semisimple types for p -adic classical groups

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Alternative strategies to agriculture: the evidence for climatic shocks and cereal declines during the British Neolithic and Bronze Age (a reply to Bishop)

Our suggestion that agriculture was temporarily abandoned for several centuries throughout much of mainland Britain after 3600 BC has provoked criticism, notably the claim by Bishop (2015) that we have missed continuity in Scotland. We demonstrate that firm evidence for widespread agriculture within the later Neolithic is still unproven. We trace the disappearance of cereals and the associated population collapse to a probable climatic shift that impacted the abundance of rainfall and lowered temperatures, thus affecting the reliability of cereals. Divergent strategies and patterns are identified on the Scottish Islands versus the mainland, which has more in common with England, Wales and Ireland. We argue that climate shocks disrupt existing subsistence patterns, to which varied responses are represented by divergent island and mainland patterns, both in the Late Neolithic and during the Early and Middle Bronze Age. Favourable climates encouraged population growth and subsistence innovation, such as at the start of the Neolithic and in the Beaker period

The spread of agriculture in eastern Asia: Archaeological bases for hypothetical farmer/language dispersals

Millets and rice were important for the demographic history of China. This review draws on current archaeobotanical evidence for rice and millets across China, Korea, eastern Russia, Taiwan, Mainland southeast Asia, and Japan, taking a critical approach to dating evidence, evidence for cultivation, and morphological domestication. There is no evidence to suggest that millets and rice were domesticated simultaneously within a single region. Instead, 5 regions of north China are candidates for independent early cultivation of millets that led to domestication, and 3 regions of the Yangtze basin are candidates for separate rice domestication trajectories. The integration of rice and millet into a single agricultural system took place ca. 4000BC, and after this the spread of agricultural systems and population growth are in evidence. The most striking evidence for agricultural dispersal and population growth took place between 3000 and 2500BC, which has implications for major language dispersals

Secure key distribution exploiting error rate criticality for radio frequency links.

We propose a method by which two radio frequency (RF) communication terminals exchange encryption keys or other data securely. This method draws on the approach developed for quantum key distribution (QKD) for detecting eavesdroppers but our method does not use any quantum properties at all. Instead, by exploiting the effects an eavesdropper has on channel stability, we explore a line-of-sight link radio in which data transfer rates are so high as to approach the Shannon limit. With very steep rises in bit error rate accompanying a small degradation of signal-to-noise limits for certain forward error correction codes, it becomes possible to infer the existence of an eavesdropper before they are able to obtain a complete key. We describe our method and analyse one possible implementation using low density parity check codes with quadrature phase shift keying modulation. The proposed technique is in principle far easier to implement than quantum-based approaches for RF and optical wireless links since the required hardware is readily available and the basic principles are well known and well understood. Finally, we show our method to have a higher key rate and spectral efficiency than those of QKD

Emerging evidence of plant domestication as a landscape-level process

The evidence from ancient crops over the past decade challenges some of our most basic assumptions about the process of domestication. The emergence of crops has been viewed as a technologically progressive process in which single or multiple localized populations adapt to human environments in response to cultivation. By contrast, new genetic and archaeological evidence reveals a slow process that involved large populations over wide areas with unexpectedly sustained cultural connections in deep time. We review evidence that calls for a new landscape framework of crop origins. Evolutionary processes operate across vast distances of landscape and time, and the origins of domesticates are complex. The domestication bottleneck is a redundant concept and the progressive nature of domestication is in doubt

How Does a Delay Between Temperate Running Exercise and Hot-Water Immersion Alter the Acute Thermoregulatory Response and Heat-Load?

Hot-water immersion following exercise in a temperate environment can elicit heat acclimation in endurance-trained individuals. However, a delay between exercise cessation and immersion is likely a common occurrence in practice. Precisely how such a delay potentially alters hot-water immersion mediated acute physiological responses (e.g., total heat-load) remains unexplored. Such data would aid in optimizing prescription of post-exercise hot-water immersion in cool environments, relative to heat acclimation goals. Twelve male recreational runners (mean ± SD; age: 38 ± 13 years, height: 180 ± 7 cm, body mass: 81 ± 13.7 kg, body fat: 13.9 ± 3.5%) completed three separate 40-min treadmill runs (18°C), followed by either a 10 min (10M), 1 h (1H), or 8 h (8H) delay, prior to a 30-min hot-water immersion (39°C), with a randomized crossover design. Core and skin temperatures, heart rate, sweat, and perceptual responses were measured across the trials. Mean core temperature during immersion was significantly lower in 1H (37.39 ± 0.30°C) compared to 10M (37.83 ± 0.24°C; p = 0.0032) and 8H (37.74 ± 0.19°C; p = 0.0140). Mean skin temperature was significantly higher in 8H (32.70 ± 0.41°C) compared to 10M (31.93 ± 0.60°C; p = 0.0042) at the end of the hot-water immersion. Mean and maximal heart rates were also higher during immersion in 10M compared to 1H and 8H (p < 0.05), despite no significant differences in the sweat or perceptual responses. The shortest delay between exercise and immersion (10M) provoked the greatest heat-load during immersion. However, performing the hot-water immersion in the afternoon (8H), which coincided with peak circadian body temperature, provided a larger heat-load stimulus than the 1 h delay (1H)

Comparing Pathways to Agriculture

The transition from foraging systems to agricultural dependence is a persistent focus of archaeological research, and the focus of a major research project supported by the European Research Council (ERC grant no. 323842, ’ComPAg’). Gordon Childe, director of the Institute of Archaeology 1947–1957, influentially defined the Neolithic revolution as that which instigated a series of changes in human societies towards sedentism (settling in one place), larger populations, food production based on domesticated plants and animals, transformed cosmologies and the dawn of new malleable technologies such as ceramics and textiles (Childe 1936)

A model for the domestication of Panicum miliaceum (common, proso or broomcorn millet) in China

This paper outlines a model for the domestication of Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet) in Northern China. Data from 43 archaeological sites indicate a continuous increase in average grain size between 6000 and 3300 BC. After this date there is a divergence, with grain size continuing to increase in some populations, while others show no further size increase. The initial increase in grain size is attributed to selection during domestication, while later divergence after 3300 BC is interpreted as resulting from post-domestication selection. Measurements of grains from two archaeological populations of P. ruderale, showed grains were longer in length by 3300 BC than the earliest grains of P. miliaceum. This suggests this sub-species includes many feral, weedy and/or introgressed forms of P. miliaceum and therefore is probably not entirely representative of the true wild ancestor. It is argued that changes from shattering to non-shattering are contemporary with increasing grain size and the commencement of cultivation. The window of P. miliaceum domestication is therefore likely to lie between 7000 and 3300 BC. However, it is probable that a lengthy period of millet harvesting and small-scale management preceded its domestication

Additional Clothing Increases Heat Load in Elite Female Rugby Sevens Players.

PURPOSE: To determine whether elite female rugby sevens players are exposed to core temperatures (Tc) during training in the heat that replicate the temperate match demands previously reported and to investigate whether additional clothing worn during a hot training session meaningfully increases the heat load experienced. METHODS: A randomized parallel-group study design was employed, with all players completing the same approximately 70-minute training session (27.5°C-34.8°C wet bulb globe temperature) and wearing a standardized training ensemble (synthetic rugby shorts and training tee [control (CON); n = 8]) or additional clothing (standardized training ensemble plus compression garments and full tracksuit [additional clothing (AC); n = 6]). Groupwise differences in Tc, sweat rate, GPS-measured external locomotive output, rating of perceived exertion, and perceptual thermal load were compared. RESULTS: Mean (P = .006, ηp2=.88) and peak (P 6 minutes. Additional clothing is a viable and effective method to increase heat strain in female rugby sevens players without compromising training specificity or external locomotive capacity