Północno-wschodnia prowincja surowcowa kultury świderskiej

Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 dofinansowane zostało ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę

Le site d’Ajakagytma et le complexe culturel de Kel’teminar au sein des processus de néolithisation en Asie centrale

La recherche menée dans le cadre de la MAFANAC s’intéresse au Néolithique et plus largement à la période des processus de néolithisation qui voit à partir de la fin du Pléistocène, en Asie centrale, l’émergence de profondes et multiples modifications dans les domaines culturel, technique, économique, social et symbolique. En Ouzbékistan, l’étude réalisée en partenariat avec l’Institut d’archéologie de l’Académie des sciences de cette République (Samarcande) est focalisée sur le Néolithique de Kel’teminar (VIIe-IVe millénaires), particulièrement dans les régions du Zeravshan et de l’Akchadaria, deux zones de peuplement intense à cette époque. La fouille du site néolithique exceptionnellement bien préservé d’Ajakagytma et les prospections géo-archéologiques réalisées dans le désert du Kyzyl-Kum contribuent à mieux caractériser ce complexe culturel et à en préciser certains aspects tels que l’origine de ce Néolithique et les mécanismes de son évolution, la chronologie, les traditions culturelles et techniques, le mode de vie et de peuplement, en parallèle avec l’étude du paléoenvironnement, et les relations entre Kel’teminar et les communautés voisines au sein d’une nouvelle configuration culturelle de l’Asie centrale.In Central Asia, the specific context of the neolithisation process, which began at the end of the Pleistocene and lasted until the early 4th millennium BC, is characterized by multi-faceted transformations involving cultural, technical, economic, social, and symbolic factors. Our multidisciplinary research, as part of the MAFANAC expedition (financially supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs), aims at reviewing and clarifying these major changes. In Uzbekistan our study, which relies strongly on academic partnership with the Institute of Archaeology of Academy of Sciences of this Republic, focuses on the Neolithic culture of Kel’teminar (7th-4th millennia BC), located at a geographic and cultural crossroad between steppe and oasis, and thus presenting an interesting case of interaction. This thorough investigation of Kel’teminar is combined with fieldwork in the Kyzyl-Kum desert, especially in two regions (Zeravshan and Akchadaria) where we are excavating the very well-preserved site of Ajakagytma, as well as undertaking systematic geo-archaeological surveys. This new research has yielded significant results for a new characterization of the Kel’teminar culture in several spheres: origins and cultural evolution, material culture, technical traditions, chronology, settlement, subsistence and social organization. The research also opens up new prospects for reconsidering the emergence of sedentary (oasis) vs nomadic (steppe) societies, a well known and much debated issue for later cultures in Central Asia

Scattering series in mobility problem for suspensions

The mobility problem for suspension of spherical particles immersed in an arbitrary flow of a viscous, incompressible fluid is considered in the regime of low Reynolds numbers. The scattering series which appears in the mobility problem is simplified. The simplification relies on the reduction of the number of types of single-particle scattering operators appearing in the scattering series. In our formulation there is only one type of single-particle scattering operator.Comment: 11 page

Reducing craving and lapse risk in alcohol and stimulants dependence using mobile app involving ecological momentary assessment and self-guided psychological interventions: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundThe prevalence of alcohol consumption in Poland is estimated to be as high as 80% of the adult population. The use of stimulants is the second most common reason for seeking addiction treatment. However, treatment outcomes remain unsatisfactory, as 40–85% of individuals who complete various treatment programs relapse and fall back into addiction within 2 years following program completion.MethodsThe 13-armed randomized controlled trial aimed to assess the effectiveness of a mobile app-based self-guided psychological intervention delivered via a smartphone app (Nałogometr) in reducing craving and lapse risk in problematic alcohol or stimulants use. Participant recruitment and data collection will be performed from June 2022 to September 2022. The 4-week mobile intervention program will include short-term and long-term intervention modules based mainly on mindfulness and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Intervention effectiveness assessment will include Ecological Momentary Assessment. That is, we will collect longitudinal data on a set of characteristics of day-to-day functioning. The primary outcomes will include a self-reported number of lapses and addiction craving level. In contrast, the secondary outcomes will be the severity of problematic substance use, anxiety and depression scores, and life satisfaction scores.ConclusionThis study will establish how mobile app-based self-guided psychological interventions can help reduce craving and lapse risk in alcohol and stimulant dependence. If successful, this randomized controlled trial (RCT) may provide an innovative, easily available, and cost-effective mHealth approach for craving and lapse risk in substance addictions.Clinical trial registration[https://clinicaltrials.gov/], identifier [NCT054 34429]

An Empirical Study of Affective and Cognitive Functions in Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Despite the inclusion of the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) in the International Classification of Diseases, very little is known about the underlying affective and cognitive processes. To fill this gap, we compared CSBD subjects and Healthy-Controls (HC) across negative/positive valence, cognitive and sensorimotor systems, as proposed by the Research Domain Criteria framework. METHODS: 74 heterosexual CSBD and 66 matched HC males were studied with 10 questionnaires and 8 behavioral tasks. Analyses were conducted with frequent and Bayesian statistics. RESULTS: CSBD individuals showed significantly higher (than HC) punishment sensitivity, anxiety, depression, compulsivity, and impulsivity symptoms. Frequentist statistical analysis revealed significant interaction between subject group and condition in Incentive Delay Task, concerning the strength of motivation and hedonic value of erotic rewards. Bayesian analysis produced evidence for the absence of group differences in Facial Discrimination Task, Risk-Ambiguity Task, and Learning Task. Also, Bayesian methods provided evidence for group differences in the Emotional Stroop Task and the Incentive Delay Task. Sexual Discounting Task, Attentional Network Task, and Stop Signal Task produced mixed results. CONCLUSIONS: Higher punishment sensitivity and impulsivity among CSBD subjects, along with significant interaction between these groups and erotic vs. non-erotic reward processing is in line with previous findings on negative/positive valence alterations in CSBD patients. This result shows that there are similarities to substance and behavioral addictions. The absence of group differences and mixed results related to cognitive and sensorimotor systems raise concerns to what extent CSBD resembles a wide spectrum of impairments observed in disorders, and demand further research

Diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndromes in Poland: Polish Adult Leukemia Group (PALG) 2021 recommendations

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of neoplastic diseases of the hematopoietic cells manifested by ineffective hematopoiesis and a tendency to transform into acute myeloid leukemia. MDS should be considered in the differential diagnosis of cytopenia, especially in the elderly. This article presents the recommendations of MDS experts of the Polish Adult Leukemia Group (PALG) for the diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndromes. We present current classifications and prognostic indices, as well as diagnostic examinations recommended for MDS: cytological, histopathological, immunophenotypic, cytogenetic and molecular tests. The aim of the study is to implement up-to-date knowledge about myelodysplastic syndromes into routine clinical practice, from the diagnosis of cytopenia to the specific diagnosis and prognosis in MDS patients.  Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of neoplastic diseases of the hematopoietic cells manifested by ineffective hematopoiesis and a tendency to transform into acute myeloid leukemia. MDS should be considered in the differential diagnosis of cytopenia, especially in the elderly. This article presents the recommendations of MDS experts of the Polish Adult Leukemia Group (PALG) for the diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndromes. We present current classifications and prognostic indices, as well as diagnostic examinations recommended for MDS: cytological, histopathological, immunophenotypic, cytogenetic and molecular tests. The aim of the study is to implement up-to-date knowledge about myelodysplastic syndromes into routine clinical practice, from the diagnosis of cytopenia to the specific diagnosis and prognosis in MDS patients.

Movement and pathfinding in real-time games. Design and implementation of library and demo.

This work focuses on movement and pathfinding in real-time games. That issues are very important components of artificial intelligence in games. Providing human-like movement is basic players requirement. Various conceptions associated with subject of work are presented in subsequent chapters. Many times alternative solutions of the same problem were presented. Their pros and cons were pointed out. Performance and quality of some algorithms were tested, which allowed to draw conclusions about theirs effectiveness and limitations. Many of algorithms were implemented in designed library. Implemented solutions should be flexible and efficient. Designed library provides functionalities, which allow agent to move and find a path in 3D game world. The proof of it is implemented game demo which shows agent who is capable of finding nearly optimal paths and dynamically avoid appearing obstacles in game world. In the beginning of work it was shown that pathfinding partially boils down to find the shortest path in weighted graph. For the purpose of pathfinding search space representation is created. Graph is an abstraction of search space. In next part graph search algorithms were shown. In order to compare their quality and effectiveness in different environments performance tests were run. A* algorithm is very often used to find shortest path in real-time games. Its performance is dependent from implementation of pathfinding lists. It was shown that implementation directed on performance often results in high memory usage and vice-versa. Good heuristic is also very important for performance of A* algorithm. It is sometimes profitable to use overestimated heuristics and gain additional performance in exchange for little loose in path quality. This algorithm was implemented in designed library. Choice of solution was motivated and its consequences were described.In the next chapter of work different methods of represent search space were presented. On the higher level of abstraction each method can be treat as weighted graph. Depending on the chosen method graph’s nodes and edges are differently represented in game world. Tile graphs were the most popular search space representation in the times of 2D games. This solution after little modification is still used in 3D RTS games. With the progress of 3D games methods using navigation points were more and more popular. Their advantage is ease of graph generation and low memory usage. This solution is often used in FPS games. Currently navigation meshes are frequently used. There are many tools which allows to automatically generate navigation meshes. Additionally paths generated on navigation meshes are more natural than paths which use navigation point graphs. In implemented demo navigation points method was used. Tool which allows to manually create and edit navigation graph was created. It is also possible to automatically create graph.In the last chapter of work various topics about practical pathfinding conceptions are presented. Agent, who searches path, has to find the nearest graph node. Space partitioning algorithms allows to improve this process. Performance test shows that use of partitioning can radically speed up this process. Generated paths are often not natural. They contain many sharp curves. The solution for this problem is to use path-smoothing algorithms. Such algorithms were presented together with performance tests. In implemented demo use of this algorithms gives very good results. Various modification of search algorithms were also presented in this chapter. One of the most popular modification is use of time-sliced algorithms. That algorithms allow to divide search process on more frames. Methods of dynamically avoiding obstacles were presented in the last part of chapter. One of possible solution is to fully replan path. Such approach was used in game demo.W tej pracy postanowiono skupić się na zagadnieniach takich jak: poruszanie się, planowanie, odnajdywanie drogi w grach czasu rzeczywistego. Są to bardzo ważne elementy systemu sztucznej inteligencji w grach. Zapewnienie poruszania się i planowania drogi w sposób przypominający ludzki jest podstawowym wymaganiem gracza. W kolejnych rozdziałach prezentowane są różnorodne zagadnienia związane z tematyką pracy. Niektórym zagadnieniom towarzyszą testy wydajnościowe pozwalające porównać różne rozwiązania i wysunąć konkretne wnioski dotyczące ich skuteczności i ograniczeń. Wraz z opisem poszczególnych problemów przedstawiono sposób ich rozwiązania w projektowanej bibliotece oraz demie. Przy implementacji kolejnych funkcjonalności starano się zwracać uwagę zarówno na elastyczność jak i wydajność. W rezultacie zaprojektowana biblioteka dostarczyła zestaw klas umożliwiających poruszanie się w środowisku 3D. Dowodem na to jest zaimplementowane demo gry, które prezentuje agenta będącego w stanie wyszukiwać prawie optymalne ścieżki i dynamicznie omijać pojawiające się przeszkody w świecie 3D.Na początku pracy pokazano, że odnajdywanie drogi w grach w dużej mierze sprowadza się do wyszukania ścieżki w grafie ważonym. Na potrzeby odnajdywania drogi tworzona jest reprezentacja przestrzeni wyszukiwania, której abstrakcją jest graf. W dalszej części przedstawiono algorytmy wyszukujące najkrótszą ścieżkę w grafie ważonym. Przeprowadzono testy wydajnościowe i jakościowe tych algorytmów w różnych środowiskach. Algorytm A* jest najczęściej wykorzystywany do zadania odnajdywania najkrótszych ścieżek w grach czasu rzeczywistego. Jego wydajność jest w dużej mierze zależna od implementacji struktur danych służących do przechowywania otwartych i zamkniętych list wierzchołków. Pokazano, że często implementacja ograniczająca złożoność czasową powoduje wzrost złożoności pamięciowej i analogicznie na odwrót. Przedstawiono, także znaczenie heurystyki w algorytmie A*. Czasem może się opłacać użyć przeszacowaną heurystykę zyskując na wydajności przy niewielkiej utracie jakości generowanych ścieżek.W kolejnym rozdziale pracy przedstawiono różne sposoby reprezentacji przestrzeni wyszukiwania. Na wyższym poziomie abstrakcji każda metoda może być przedstawiona jako graf. Jednak w zależności od wyboru rozwiązania wierzchołki i połączenia będą inaczej reprezentowane. W czasach gier 2D najpopularniejszym rozwiązaniem było użycie siatek kafli. Wraz z rozwojem grafiki 3D coraz popularniejsze stawały się metody oparte na ustawianiu punktów nawigacyjnych. Ich zaletą jest łatwość generacji i niewielkie wymagania pamięciowe. Obecnie coraz bardziej popularne stają się siatki nawigacyjne. Istnieje wiele narzędzi umożliwiających ich automatyczną generację. Ponadto ścieżki generowane na siatkach nawigacyjnych są bardziej naturalne niż w metodzie punktów nawigacyjnych. W implementowanym demie użyto metody punktów nawigacyjnych. Powstało dodatkowe narzędzie umożliwiające generację grafu. Narzędzie to umożliwia manualną generację grafu poprzez umieszczanie w świecie gry wierzchołków i tworzenie połączeń. W ostatniej części pracy opisano różnorodne zagadnienia dotyczące praktycznych aspektów odnajdywania i planowania drogi. Agent wyszukujący ścieżkę musi odnaleźć wierzchołek w grafie znajdujący się najbliżej jego pozycji. Algorytmy podziału przestrzeni umożliwiają przyśpieszenie tego procesu. Wykonane testy wydajnościowe pokazały zyski z zastosowania podziału świata na siatkę komórek. Ścieżka wygenerowana przez wyszukiwanie na grafie jest często nienaturalna. Rozwiązaniem jest zastosowanie algorytmów wygładzających ścieżkę. Takie algorytmy zostały przedstawione wraz z testami pokazującymi koszt zastosowania takich rozwiązań. Ostatnim prezentowanym zagadnieniem są techniki reagowania na zmiany w świecie gry. Pokazano różne metody dynamicznego omijania przeszkód. Jednym z rozwiązań jest całkowite przeplanowanie ścieżki w momencie pojawienia się przeszkody

Threats to Mental Health Facilitated by Dating Applications Use Among Men Having Sex With Men.

In the last years, dating applications (DAs) have had a significant impact on the way in which people seek sexual and romantic relationships. Social groups, such as men having sex with men (MSM), who can experience discrimination and social isolation, find DAs especially engaging and helpful in finding sexual partners. Previous studies have provided evidence showing vulnerability to mental health problems among the MSM population-these problems can be potentially facilitated by DAs use. Excessive use of DAs is associated with lower well-being and life satisfaction, depression, higher substance use, and lower sleep quality. Therefore, there is a need for a better understanding of psychological functioning and risk factors associated with the use of DAs among MSM, which we focus on in this review. We also discuss two relatively new research areas: compulsive sexual behavior disorder and chemsex, and their relation to geosocial-networking mobile technologies. Finally, we point out the limitations of available studies on the mental health of MSM using DAs and propose further research directions

Flint Industry from house 1/1A/1B at the PPN site in Nemrik 9, Northern Iraq

The article presents the flint industry from the PPN site Nemrik 9 in Northern Iraq. Among cores, those with one striking platform for bladelets removed using pressure techniques are in majority. Among retouched tools, blades, perforators, flakes, endscrapers, tanged points/points of Nemrik type, Khiamian points, backed pieces, etc., are present. The sample from the houses IB, 1A and 1 lying one up on the other, does not show any significant change during ca. 1 000 years of settlement. We call this industry the Nemrikian.Présentation de l'assemblage lithique de Nemrik 9, site néolithique acéramique d'Iraq du Nord : nucleus coniques à un plan de frappe, débitage lamellaire (technique par pression), lames retouchées, outils perçants, éclats retouchés, grattoirs, pointes de flèches dites de Nemrik, pointes d'El-Khiam, lamelles ou pointes à dos permettent de caractériser cette industrie et de la définir comme «Nemrikien». Aucune évolution importante n'est notée entre l'industrie des couches du 9e millénaire et celles de la première moitié du 7e.Kozlowski Stefan Karol, Szymczak Katja. Flint Industry from house 1/1A/1B at the PPN site in Nemrik 9, Northern Iraq. In: Paléorient, 1989, vol. 15, n°1. pp. 32-42