Horses for the dead: funerary foodways in Bronze Age Kazakhstan

© 2011 Antiquity PublicationsThe authors examine the role of horses as expressed in assemblages from settlement sites and cemeteries between the Eneolithic and the Bronze Age in Kazakhstan. In this land, known for its rich association with horses, the skeletal evidence appears to indicate a fading of ritual interest. But that's not the whole story, and once again micro-archaeology reveals the true balance. The horses are present at the funeral, but now as meat for the pot, detected in bone fragments and lipids in the pot walls.Natural Environment Research Council (grant NE/B504506) and the British Academy (grants SG-35540 and SG-42656)

Impedance spectroscopy study of carbon nanotube–glass microfiber composites

The method of fabricating composites composed of a glass micro ber matrix and the conductive nano bers is proposed. The nano bers incorporating single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and an organic material are spread over the surface of glass micro bers and in some areas between micro bers are coupled together into a branched network. The contributions of intra- CNT and inter-CNT conduction mechanisms in the composites with different contents of SWCNTs are evaluated from the analysis of their impedance spectra. The crossover between two conduction mechanisms is observed at a content of SWCNTs of about 0.1 wt. %

ORGANISATION-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPMENT AND RUN IN OF THE MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGIES

Studied have been the economic processes and materials of organisation of the industry enterprises by the run in of the modern biotechnologies and its development. The purpose of the work: the development of the theoretical bases and methodology of solution of problems of the organisation-economic development and run in of the modern biotechnologies. The theory of the directed economic development has been developed. For the first time, the economic content of the coevolution conception as the base of the modern development of the productive forces has been formulated. The economic theory of the production biologization and the biotechnology run in has been developed. The methods of evaluation of the economic efficiency of the biotechnology production and the methods of standardization of the duration of the technico-economic run in of the newly introduced objects of the modern biotechnologies have been developedAvailable from VNTIC / VNTIC - Scientific & Technical Information Centre of RussiaSIGLERURussian Federatio

MITOCHONDRIAL DNA ANALYSIS OF ANCIENT SHEEP FROM KAZAKHSTAN: EVIDENCE FOR EARLY SHEEP INTRODUCTION

Kazakhstan covers a vast territory, and it has always been a land of nomadic pastoralism, where domesticated horses and sheep were moved by nomadic people across the steppe. Previous reports suggest that sheep breeds from Kazakhstan have an intermediate genetic composition between Asian and European breeds; however, this data appears to be limited. Therefore, we studied the genetic diversity of ancient domestic sheep from two Late Bronze Age settlements, Toksanbai and Kent, located in the Pre-Caspian region of Kazakhstan and central Kazakhstan, respectively. We have applied ZooMS analysis for taxonomic identification of small ruminant remains to select ancient specimens of domestic sheep (Ovis aries). To assign sheep mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups, the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from the control region were analyzed by real-time PCR and direct sequencing. Identical distribution of mtDNA haplogroups A (8/14; 57%), B (5/14; 36%), and C (1/14; 7%) was observed in the specimens from Toksanbai (n = 14) and Kent (n = 14). Ovine haplogroup A was predominant in both settlements. Both archeological sites had similar patterns of haplogroup distribution, indicating early sheep introduction into the region. These results are important to gain a better understanding of sheep migrations in the Eurasian steppe and highlight the importance of genomic analysis of earlier local lineages

Gas Sensor with Reduced Humidity Response, Based on Metal Oxide Nanoparticles Synthesized by Spark Discharge

The most part of gas sensors based on tin dioxide semiconductor sensing material are fabricated by using sol-gel synthesis of SnO2. This process leads to the formation of highly sensitive sensing material; however, it forms hydroxyl groups on the surface of tin dioxide, leading, in turn, to strong parasitic sensitivity of the sensor to changing humidity. This sensitivity can be reduced by calcination of sensing material, but this treatment also reduces considerably the total response of the sensor to target gases. In this work, we investigated the possibility of the dry synthesis of tin dioxide nanoparticles by gas phase spark discharge. After the annealing at 610 degrees C, the specific area of the material synthesized by spark discharge was about 40 m(2)/g. The sensing layer resistance of the sensor decreases by only 20%, when relative humidity of a carrier air increases from 40 to 100%. At the same time, the hydrogen response of the sensor remains the same as for the material prepared by sol-gel synthesis, that is factor of 8 at 100 ppm concentration of H-2. Very important property of the sensor is short response time of similar to 1-2 s to both hydrogen and humidity

Fabrication of Conductive and Gas-Sensing Microstructures Using Focused Deposition of Copper Nanoparticles Synthesized by Spark Discharge

Solvent-free aerosol jet printing has been investigated for fabricating metallic and semiconductor (gas-sensitive) microstructures based on copper nanoparticles on alumina, borosilicate glass, and silicon substrates. The synthesis of nanoparticles was carried out using a spark discharge directly in the printing process without the stage of preparing nano-ink. Printed lines with a width of 100–150 µm and a height of 5–7 µm were formed from submicron agglomerates consisting of primary nanoparticles 10.8 ± 4.9 nm in size with an amorphous oxide shell. The electrical resistivity, surface morphology, and shrinkage of printed lines were investigated depending on the reduction sintering temperature. Sintering of copper oxides of nanoparticles began at a temperature of 450 °C in a hydrogen atmosphere with shrinkage at the level of 45–60%. Moreover, aerosol heat treatment was used to obtain highly conductive lines by increasing the packing density of deposited nanoparticles, providing in-situ transformation of submicron agglomerates into spherical nanoparticles with a size of 20–50 nm. Copper lines of spherical nanoparticles demonstrated excellent resistivity at 5 μΩ·cm, about three times higher than that of bulk copper. In turn, semiconductor microstructures based on unsintered agglomerates of oxidized copper have a fairly high sensitivity to NH3 and CO. Values of response of the sensor based on non-sintered oxidized copper nanoparticles to ammonia and carbon monoxide concentration of 40 ppm were about 20% and 80%, respectively

Reducing Humidity Response of Gas Sensors for Medical Applications: Use of Spark Discharge Synthesis of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles

The application of gas sensors in breath analysis is an important trend in the early diagnostics of different diseases including lung cancer, ulcers, and enteric infection. However, traditional methods of synthesis of metal oxide gas-sensing materials for semiconductor sensors based on wet sol-gel processes give relatively high sensitivity of the gas sensor to changing humidity. The sol-gel process leading to the formation of superficial hydroxyl groups on oxide particles is responsible for the strong response of the sensing material to this factor. In our work, we investigated the possibility to synthesize metal oxide materials with reduced sensitivity to water vapors. Dry synthesis of SnO2 nanoparticles was implemented in gas phase by spark discharge, enabling the reduction of the hydroxyl concentration on the surface and allowing the production of tin dioxide powder with specific surface area of about 40 m2/g after annealing at 610 °C. The drop in sensor resistance does not exceed 20% when air humidity increases from 40 to 100%, whereas the response to 100 ppm of hydrogen is a factor of 8 with very short response time of about 1 s. The sensor response was tested in mixtures of air with hydrogen, which is the marker of enteric infections and the marker of early stage fire, and in a mixture of air with lactate (marker of stomach cancer) and ammonia gas (marker of Helicobacter pylori, responsible for stomach ulcers)