scholarly journals Frozen Mummies from Andean Mountaintop Shrines: Bioarchaeology and Ethnohistory of Inca Human Sacrifice

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Constanza Ceruti

This study will focus on frozen mummies of sacrificial victims from mounts Llullaillaco (6739 m), Quehuar (6130 m), El Toro (6160 m), and the Aconcagua massif. These finds provide bioarchaeological data from mountaintop sites that has been recovered in scientifically controlled excavations in the northwest of Argentina, which was once part of the southern province of the Inca Empire. Numerous interdisciplinary studies have been conducted on the Llullaillaco mummies, including radiological evaluations by conventional X-rays and CT scans, which provided information about condition and pathology of the bones and internal organ, as well as dental studies oriented to the estimation of the ages of the three children at the time of death. Ancient DNA studies and hair analysis were also performed in cooperation with the George Mason University, the University of Bradford, and the Laboratory of Biological Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen. Ethnohistorical sources reveal interesting aspects related to the commemorative, expiatory, propitiatory, and dedicatory aspects of human sacrifice performed under Inca rule. The selection of the victims along with the procedures followed during the performance of thecapacochaceremony will be discussed, based on the bioarchaeological evidences from frozen mummies and the accounts recorded by the Spanish chroniclers.

Author(s):  
Julia Gonschorek ◽  
Anja Langer ◽  
Benjamin Bernhardt ◽  
Caroline Räbiger

This article gives insight in a running dissertation at the University in Potsdam. Point of discussion is the spatial and temporal distribution of emergencies of German fire brigades that have not sufficiently been scientifically examined. The challenge is seen in Big Data: enormous amounts of data that exist now (or can be collected in the future) and whose variables are linked to one another. These analyses and visualizations can form a basis for strategic, operational and tactical planning, as well as prevention measures. The user-centered (geo-) visualization of fire brigade data accessible to the general public is a scientific contribution to the research topic 'geovisual analytics and geographical profiling'. It may supplement antiquated methods such as the so-called pinmaps as well as the areas of engagement that are freehand constructions in GIS. Considering police work, there are already numerous scientific projects, publications, and software solutions designed to meet the specific requirements of Crime Analysis and Crime Mapping. By adapting and extending these methods and techniques, civil security research can be tailored to the needs of fire departments. In this paper, a selection of appropriate visualization methods will be presented and discussed.


Author(s):  
Himadri Mukherjee ◽  
Subhankar Ghosh ◽  
Ankita Dhar ◽  
Sk Md Obaidullah ◽  
K. C. Santosh ◽  
...  

1987 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Maffei ◽  
A. Marracino ◽  
F. Di Stanislao ◽  
P. Pauri ◽  
M. Clementi ◽  
...  

SUMMARYIn one locality in Italy where the incidence of psittacosis has increased rapidly since 1980, a hospital-based study and a seroepidemiological survey were carried out in order to define the clinical and epidemiological features of psittacosis in that area.Registers of the Virology Unit of the University of Ancona, Italy, were reviewed and all hospitalized patients with a serological diagnosis of psittacosis were identified. A total of 76 cases were found and studied. A presumptive bird source was identified in 80% of 62 patients, on whom a detailed investigation had been possible. Poultry represented the most frequent probable source of infection. Clinically, the predominant pattern of illness was a moderately severe lower respiratory tract infection, with chest X-rays showing pulmonary shadowings in 68 patients (89%).In the seroepidemiological study, 51 out of 143 subjects were exposed to birds (35·7%), but only 7 out of 90 urban adult blood donors (7·3%) were positive for chlamydial antibodies using the microimmunofluorescence test.


Itinerario ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-473
Author(s):  
Paolo Sartori

AbstractThis thematic issue of Itinerario brings together a selection of papers presented at the international conference Beyond the Islamicate Chancery: Archives, Paperwork, and Textual Encounters across Eurasia, which was held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna in early October 2018. The conference was the third instalment in a series of collaborations between the Institute of Iranian Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Pittsburgh examining Islamicate cultures of documentation from different angles. Surviving precolonial and colonial chancery archives across Eurasia provide an unparalleled glimpse into the inner workings of connectivity across writing cultures and, especially, documentary practices. This particular meeting has attempted to situate what has traditionally been a highly technical discipline in a broader historical dialogue on the relationship between state power, the archive, and cultural encounters.


2021 ◽  
Vol 134 (16) ◽  

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Fanny Jaudon and Martina Albini are co-first authors on ‘ A developmental stage- and Kidins220-dependent switch in astrocyte responsiveness to brain-derived neurotrophic factor’, published in JCS. Fanny is a postdoc at the University of Trieste in the lab of Lorenzo A. Cingolani at Center for Synaptic Neuroscience and Technology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy, investigating the molecular mechanisms controlling development and function of neuronal circuits and implementing genome-editing approaches for the treatment of neurological disorders. Martina is a PhD student at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in the lab of Fabio Benfenati and Fabrizia Cesca investigating neurotrophin biology and its involvement in neurological diseases.


Author(s):  
Rosalba Ciranni ◽  
Donata Pangoli ◽  
Valentina Giuffra ◽  
DAvide Caramella ◽  
Edda Bresciani ◽  
...  

Eighty-five Egyptian mummies belonging to different dynastic periods and collected in a number of Italian museums, have been censed and submitted for paleopathological research. In most cases the presence of bandages required the application of X- rays and computed axial tomography (CAT). Fifty-two mummies have been studied in situ with Xrays; twelve with CAT scanning. Technical problems kept us from investigating eleven of the censed mummies. In a few cases it was possible to perform autopsies, endoscopy, or histological studies. The mummies submitted for X- rays were divided into two groups: The first group thirty-six mummies studied by the team of Paleopathology-Egyptology of the University of Pisa were studied for the first time. The second group was composed of twenty-six mummies studied elsewhere in Italy. Those results also have been included in the Anubi Project database.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily J. King ◽  
Natalie N. Viscariello ◽  
Larry A. DeWerd

This work seeks to develop standard X-ray beams that are matched to radiobiology X-ray irradiators. The calibration of detectors used for dose determination of these irradiators is performed with a set of standard X rays that are more heavily filtered and/or lower energy, which leads to a higher uncertainty in the dose measurement. Models of the XRad320, SARRP, and the X-ray tube at the University of Wisconsin Medical Radiation Research Center (UWMRRC) were created using the BEAMnrc user code of the EGSnrc Monte Carlo code system. These models were validated against measurements, and the resultant modeled spectra were used to determine the amount of added filtration needed to match the X-ray beams at the UWMRRC to those of the XRad320 and SARRP. The depth profiles and half-value layer (HVL) simulations performed using BEAMnrc agreed to measurements within 3% and 3.6%, respectively. A primary measurement device, a free-air chamber, was developed to measure air kerma in the medium energy range of X rays. The resultant spectra of the matched beams had HVL's that matched the HVL's of the radiobiology irradiators well within the 3% criteria recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the average energies agreed within 2.4%. In conclusion, three standard X-ray beams were developed at the UWMRRC with spectra that more closely match the spectra of the XRad320 and SARRP radiobiology irradiators, which will aid in a more accurate dose determination during calibration of these irradiators.


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