Arable weed seeds as indicators of regional cereal provenance: a case study from Iron Age and Roman central-southern Britain

The ability to provenance crop remains from archaeological sites remains an outstanding research question in archaeology. Archaeobotanists have previously identified the movement of cereals on the basis of regional variations in the presence of cereal grain, chaff and weed seeds (the consumer–producer debate), and weed seeds indicative of certain soil types, principally at Danebury hillfort. Whilst the former approach has been heavily criticised over the last decade, the qualitative methods of the latter have not been evaluated. The first interregional trade in cereals in Britain is currently dated to the Iron Age hillfort societies of the mid 1st millennium bc. Several centuries later, the development of urban settlements in the Late Iron Age and Roman period resulted in populations reliant on food which was produced elsewhere. Using the case study of central-southern Britain, centred on the oppidum (large fortified settlement) and civitas capital of Silchester, this paper presents the first regional quantitative analysis of arable weed seeds in order to identify the origin of the cereals consumed there. Analysis of the weed seeds which were present with the fine sieve by-products of the glume wheat Triticum spelta (spelt) shows that the weed floras of samples from diverse geological areas can be separated on the basis of the soil requirements of individual taxa. A preliminary finding is that, rather than being supplied with cereals from the wider landscape of the chalk region of the Hampshire Downs, the crops were grown close to Late Iron Age Silchester. The method presented here requires further high quality samples to evaluate this conclusion and other instances of cereal movement in the past

'The debatable territory where geology and archaeology meet': reassessing the early archaeobotanical work of Clement Reid and Arthur Lyell at Roman Silchester

The first large-scale archaeobotanical study in Britain, conducted from 1899 to 1909 by Clement Reid and Arthur Lyell at Silchester, provided the first evidence for the introduction of Roman plant foods to Britain, yet the findings have thus far remained unverified. This paper presents a reassessment of these archaeobotanical remains, now stored as part of the Silchester Collection in Reading Museum. The documentary evidence for the Silchester study is summarised, before the results are presented for over a 1000 plant remains including an assessment of preservation, identification and modern contamination. The dataset includes both evidence for the presence of nationally rare plant foods, such as medlar, and several archaeophytes. The methodologies and original interpretations of Reid and Lyell’s study are reassessed in light of current archaeobotanical knowledge. Spatial and contextual patterns in the distribution of plant foods and ornamental taxa are also explored. Finally, the legacy of the study for the development of archaeobotany in the 20th century is evaluated

Calculating the possible conformations arising from uncertainty in the molecular distance geometry problem using constraint interval analysis

The calculation of the 3D structure of a protein molecule is important because it is associated to its biological function. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) experiments can provide distance information between atoms that are close enough in a given protein and the problem is how to use these distances to determine the protein structure. Using the chemistry of proteins and supposing all the distances are precise values, it is possible to define an atomic order v1, ⋅⋅⋅, vn, such that the distances related to the pairs are available, and solve the problem iteratively using a combinatorial method, called Branch-and-Prune (BP). However, due to uncertainty in NMR data, the distances associated with pairs may not be precise, which implies that there are many difficulties in applying the BP algorithm to this scenario. The use of standard interval arithmetic can be directly applied to the algorithm, but it is known that it generates overestimations. This paper proposes a new methodology to compute possible conformations on the presence of uncertainties arising from NMR distance measurements using a constraint interval analysis approach. Some numerical examples are presented.415/4164152CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPSem informaçãoSem informaçã

Sensitivity of selection procedures for priority conservation areas to survey extent, survey intensity and taxonomic knowledge

Many procedures exist for identifying sets of sites that collectively represent regional biodiversity. Whereas the mechanics and suitability of these procedures have received considerable attention, little effort has been directed towards assessing and quantifying the effects of varying data inputs on their outcomes. In the present paper, we use sensitivity analysis to evaluate the impacts of varying degrees of (i) survey intensity, (ii) survey extent and (iii) taxonomic diversity on iterative reserve selection procedures. A comprehensive distribution database of the mammalian fauna from the Transvaal region of South Africa is systematically perturbed before implementation of a site selection algorithm. The resulting networks of sites are then compared to quantitatively assess the impact of database variations on algorithm performance. Systematic data deletions result in increased network variability (identity of selected sites), decreased numbers of frequently selected sites, decreased spatial congruence among successive runs and a rapid increase in the number of additional sites required to represent all species present in the region. These effects become particularly evident once data sets are reduced to below 20% of the original data. Consequently, a mixed survey strategy that balances survey effort with survey extent and maximizes taxonomic knowledge is more likely to ensure appropriate planning outcomes

Generalized interval vector spaces and interval optimization

This paper presents a method for endowing the generalized interval space with some different structures, such as vector spaces, order relations and an algebraic calculus. With these concepts we formulate interval optimization problems and relate them to classic multi-objective optimization problems. We also present a version of the Von Neumann's Mini-max Theorem in the interval context. (c) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Social impacts of hazardous and nuclear facilities and events: Implications for Nevada and the Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository; [Final report]

Social impacts of a nuclear waste repository are described. Various case studies are cited such as Rocky Flats Plant, the Feed Materials Production Center, and Love Canal. The social impacts of toxic contamination, mitigating environmental stigma and loss of trust are also discussed