Origini ed evoluzione del sistema centralizzato ad Arslantepe: dal tempio al palazzo nel IV millennio A.C.

This article reconsiders the nature of the development of a highly centralised political and economic structure at Arslantepe at the end of the fourth millennium BC (period VI A) in the light of a recent discovery of a huge ceremonial building from the middle of the 4th millennium (period VII), which stresses the importance of local components. This earlier building has a tripartite layout that clearly recalls a typical Mesopotamian architecture typology, but the archaeological materials show completely and exclusively local characteristics, without any evidence of Uruk influence. On the other hand, the main activity performed in this building, which seems to be a temple or ceremonial structure, was redistribution carried out under an administrative control, as is suggested by hundreds of mass-produced bowls and numerous clay-sealings. The development of the Arslantepe period VI A society, expressed in what appears to be the first example in the Near East of a "palace" complex, in this perspective, should be seen as a local and original evolution from earlier developments shared with other regions of Greater Mesopotamia, rather than the effect of an emulation of foreign communitie

Collapse or transformation? Regeneration and innovation at the turn of the first millennium BC at Arslantepe, Turkey

Ongoing excavations at Arslantepe in south-eastern Turkey are revealing settlement continuity spanning two crucial phases at the transition from the second to the first millennium BC: the post-Hittite period and the development of Syro-Anatolian societies

Invariance properties of bacterial random walks in complex structures

Motile cells often explore natural environments characterized by a high degree of structural complexity. Moreover cell motility is also intrinsically noisy due to spontaneous random reorientation and speed fluctuations. This interplay of internal and external noise sources gives rise to a complex dynamical behavior that can be strongly sensitive to details and hard to model quantitatively. In striking contrast to this general picture we show that the mean residence time of swimming bacteria inside artificial complex microstructures, can be quantitatively predicted by a generalization of a recently discovered invariance property of random walks. We find that variations in geometry and structural disorder have a dramatic effect on the distributions of path length while mean values are strictly constrained by the sole free volume to surface ratio. Biological implications include the possibility of predicting and controlling the colonization of complex natural environments using only geometric informations

Optimal use of Charge Information for the HL-LHC Pixel Detector Readout

The pixel detectors for the High Luminosity upgrades of the ATLAS and CMS detectors will preserve digitized charge information in spite of extremely high hit rates. Both circuit physical size and output bandwidth will limit the number of bits to which charge can be digitized and stored. We therefore study the effect of the number of bits used for digitization and storage on single and multi-particle cluster resolution, efficiency, classification, and particle identification. We show how performance degrades as fewer bits are used to digitize and to store charge. We find that with limited charge information (4 bits), one can achieve near optimal performance on a variety of tasks.Comment: 27 pages, 20 figure

Актуальні проблеми розвитку виноградства та виноробства

В статті розглянуто сучасні тенденції та проблеми розвитку виноградарства та виноробства України. Надано рекомендації щодо пріоритетних напрямків розвитку виноробних підприємств.The modern tendencies and development problems of Ukraine viticulture and winemaking industry are considered in the article. The regards priority areas recommendations of winemaking enterprises development are given

Prediction of Renal Acid Load in Adult Patients on Parenteral Nutrition

Metabolic acidosis and metabolic bone disease are frequent complications in patients on parenteral nutrition (PN). A common contributor to these complications could be a daily high renal acid load. This study aims to find a method for predicting the potential total acid load (PTAL) and the pH of the compounded parenteral nutrition mixtures. The pH and titratable acidity (TA) of fifty compounded mixtures were measured. The potential metabolic acid load (PMAL) was calculated by considering the amount of nutrients that are acid producers and consumers. The PTAL of the TPN mixtures was calculated by adding TA to PMAL. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to develop a predictive model for the TA and pH of the compounded mixtures. The predicted TA and pH values of the analyzed mixtures agreed with those measured (Passing-Bablok analysis). The PTAL was >50 mmol/day for 82% of the mixtures, >75 mmol/day for 40% of the mixtures, and >100 mmol/day for 22% of the mixtures. The prediction of the renal acid load in patients on long-term PN could allow more appropriate acid-base balancing. Moreover, predicting the pH of such mixtures could be useful to pharmacists to assess the stability and compatibility of the components in the compounded mixtures

Nitrogen uptake and nitrogen fertilizer recovery in old and modern wheat genotypes grown in the presence or absence of interspecific competition

Choosing genotypes with a high capacity for taking up nitrogen (N) from the soil and the ability to efficiently compete with weeds for this nutrient is essential to increasing the sustainability of cropping systems that are less dependent on auxiliary inputs. This research aimed to verify whether differences exist in N uptake and N fertilizer recovery capacity among wheat genotypes and, if so, whether these differences are related to a different competitive ability against weeds of wheat genotypes. To this end, 12 genotypes, varying widely in morphological traits and year of release, were grown in the presence or absence of interspecific competition (using Avena sativa L. as a surrogate weed). Isotopic tracer 15N was used to measure the fertilizer N uptake efficiencies of the wheat genotypes and weed. A field experiment, a split-plot design with four replications, was conducted during two consecutive growing seasons in a typical Mediterranean environment. In the absence of interspecific competition, few differences in either total N uptake (range: 98–112 kg N ha–1) or the 15N fertilizer recovery fraction (range: 30.0–36.7%) were observed among the wheat genotypes. The presence of competition, compared to competitor-free conditions, resulted in reductions in grain yield (49%), total N uptake (29%), and an 15N fertilizer recovery fraction (32%) that were on average markedly higher in modern varieties than in old ones. Both biomass and grain reductions were strongly related to the biomass of the competitor (correlation coefficients > 0.95), which ranged from 135 g m–2 to 573 g m–2. Variations in both grain and biomass yield due to interspecific competition were significantly correlated with percentage of soil cover and leaf area at tillering, plant height at heading, and total N uptake, thus highlighting that the ability to take up N from the soil played a certain role in determining the different competitive abilities against weed of the genotypes

Essential amino acid profile in parenteral nutrition mixtures: Does it meet needs?

Background and Aims: The study compares the essential amino acid (EAA) composition of different parenteral nutrition (PN) mixtures with whey protein EAA profile and the theoretical daily EAA requirements (set by WHO/FAO/UNU or IAAO method). According to the individual EAA profile, the potential effect of several PN mixtures was evaluated on the skeletal muscle mass (SMM) of patients on home PN. Methods: Eight AA solutions and fifteen complete PN mixtures were considered. Twenty-nine clinically stable patients with short bowel syndrome on home total PN were retrospectively evaluated. SMM was estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Results: The prescribed doses of EAA that showed a significant increase in home PN patients muscle mass were considerably greater than the theoretical ones, showing an EAA profile similar to whey protein. At the daily dose of 1 g of total AA s/kg body weight (BW), the considered PN mixtures mostly failed to improve SMM. Only prescribed doses which included more than 0.25 g/kg BW of total BCAA with at least 0.10 g/kg BW leucine, 0.08 g/kg BW isoleucine, and 0.06 g/kg BW methionine showed a significant increase in SMM. Conclusions: The theoretical daily requirement for each EAA was met by all considered PN solutions when the prescribed daily dose of total AAs was set at 1 g/kg BW. Nevertheless, our data suggest that only an increase in total BCAA, also richer in single AA leucine, isoleucine, and methionine, is associated with the maintenance and/or increase of SMM. According to these preliminary observations, we support the prescription of an EAA composition of PN mixtures close to that of whey protein for the preservation of SMM in patients on long-term total PN