Lithic Technology and Chronology of Initial Upper Paleolithic Assemblages at Tor Fawaz, Southern Jordan

The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) is a key chrono-cultural concept in our understanding of the cultural and population dynamics at the transition from the Middle Paleolithic to Upper Paleolithic period. This paper presents technological and chronological analyses of lithic assemblages from a rockshelter site at Tor Fawaz in the Jebel Qalkha area, southern Jordan, to provide accurate dating and detailed recognition of the IUP variability in the Levant. We present integrated micromorphological, phytolith, and dung spherulite analyses to evaluate formation and postdepositional processes of archaeological remains through high-resolution micro-contextual studies. As a result, the Tor Fawaz assemblages show general similarity to those of Boker Tachtit Level 4, Tor Sadaf A–B, and Wadi Aghar C–D1 that represent the late phase of the IUP in the southern Levant. Based on the detailed recognition of site-formation processes, we suggest ca. 45–36 ka as the age of IUP occupations at Tor Fawaz. More specifically, the IUP occupations at Tor Fawaz and Wadi Aghar, a nearby IUP site in the same area, may represent slightly different phases that show a lithic technological trend paralleling the IUP sequence at Tor Sadaf in southern Jordan, and possibly post-date Boker Tachtit Level 4. We also discuss the issue of partial chronological overlap between the late IUP and the Ahmarian and also argue for the geographically different trends in cultural changes from the late IUP to the Ahmarian.

Class similarity network for coding and long non-coding RNA classification

Background Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play significant roles in varieties of physiological and pathological processes.The premise of the lncRNA functional study is that the lncRNAs are identified correctly. Recently, deep learning method like convolutional neural network (CNN) has been successfully applied to identify the lncRNAs. However, the traditional CNN considers little relationships among samples via an indirect way. Results Inspired by the Siamese Neural Network (SNN), here we propose a novel network named Class Similarity Network in coding RNA and lncRNA classification. Class Similarity Network considers more relationships among input samples in a direct way. It focuses on exploring the potential relationships between input samples and samples from both the same class and the different classes. To achieve this, Class Similarity Network trains the parameters specific to each class to obtain the high-level features and represents the general similarity to each class in a node. The comparison results on the validation dataset under the same conditions illustrate the superiority of our Class Similarity Network to the baseline CNN. Besides, our method performs effectively and achieves state-of-the-art performances on two test datasets. Conclusions We construct Class Similarity Network in coding RNA and lncRNA classification, which is shown to work effectively on two different datasets by achieving accuracy, precision, and F1-score as 98.43%, 0.9247, 0.9374, and 97.54%, 0.9990, 0.9860, respectively.

The anatomical, palynological and micromorphological aspects of three endemic Bellevalia species (Asparagaceae) in Turkey and their taxonomic importance

In the present research, anatomical, palynological and micromorphological characteristics of three endemic Bellevalia species (B. gracilis, B. malatyaensis and B. vuralii) for Turkey are carried out. This work reveals the descriptive characteristics of the examined species, and contribute to solving taxonomic problems. Anatomical studies were carried out on cross sections of root, scape and leaf. The metaxylem, the number of root cortex cells, and the number of cortex and sclerenchyma cells in the scape were found to be significant in terms of taxonomy. Pollen grains of all the examined species were monosulcate and heteropolar. In addition, seed and pollen surface ornamentation were photographed under SEM microscopy, which SEM micrographs showed that the exine sculpturing pattern is reticulate-perforate, and pollen muri walls of were different among the examined species. Conversely, seeds showed a general similarity of the surface among the studied species, all showing a reticulate faveolate ornamentation.

“GARDENERS” OF THE DYNASTIC TREES OF RUSSIAN PRINCES AND TSARS. ABOUT VARIATIONS OF ONE MICRO-PLOT IN THE EAST SLAVIC ART OF THE 17TH CENTURY

In the East Slavic art of the 17th century images of the trees of the spiritual genealogy of Russian princes and tsars became widespread. Such compositions were present in book engraving, icon painting and fresco. Despite the general similarity, they differ in sets of images and micro-plots. The differences are due to the specific intent of each of the works. The article examines the micro-plot of the “planting” of the family tree as the most sapid and with its own variations. It’s included in the iconographic composition of five works of art from the second half of the 17th – early 18th centuries. In the paper, special attention is paid to the peculiarities of the depiction of the “gardeners” of the dynastic trees (Princess Olga, Prince Vladimir, Prince Ivan Kalita and Metropolitan Peter) and some other characters, as well as their attributes. With all the diversity of the personifications of “gardeners”, “body language” and symbols used by artists, iconographic solutions in each case worked for the one general idea. The czar dynasties of the Russian state were presented as clans founded by “right” rulers who gave their subjects state establishment and order, and also “enlightened” them with the Christian faith.

Indigenous Dogs of Baikal Region from Ivolginsk Fortress (Western Transbaikalia)

Archaeological sites of Baikal region have rich collections of canid remains. By the Iron Age dogs become abundant in some Transbaikalia archaeological sites, especially in Xiongnu complexes. Ivolginsk Fortress is one of Transbaikalia's most important Xiongnu sites, where a dog is the first (in faunal collections of 1955–1974 excavations) and the fourth (in faunal collection of 2017 excavation) numerous among domestic animals. However, the dog remains from the site are not extensively studied. To address parts of this lacuna, this paper describes ten dog skulls from Ivolginsk Fortress. The purpose of study is to determine the morphological type of dogs living in the fortress during the Iron Age. Their skulls are similar in size and shape to those of East Siberian Laikas. For this reason, we made a comparison of skulls from Ivolginsk Fortress to those of East Siberian Laika of the early twentieth century, which showed the general similarity in morphological characteristics of these skulls. Therefore, all dogs from Ivolginsk Fortress were identified as northern (Laika-like) type of dogs. Also, as a result of the morphological description of the Ivolginsk skulls, two size groups of Ivolginsk dogs were identified. However, a comparison of the size of the skulls to body mass made it possible to divide the Ivolginsk dogs into three size groups: small-, medium- and large-sized individuals. The Ivolginsk dog population consisted primarily of medium-sized dogs, small and large dogs were not abundant. Moreover, Ivolginsk dogs differed by some morphological characteristics: relative snout length (dogs with short and medium-length snouts) and relative skull width (dogs with narrow and wide skulls). The comparison of skulls from Ivolginsk Fortress to Holocene skulls from Far East and Baikal regions showed the similarity of Ivolginsk skulls to Early Holocene skulls from Cis- Baikal archaeological sites (Pad Kalashnikova, Ust-Belaia) and Early Medieval skulls from Amur archaeological sites. It could indicate that dogs of northern type were relatively widespread during most of the Holocene in the Baikal and Amur regions.

Geomorphological evolution of the Petrovaradin Fortress Palaeolithic site (Novi Sad, Serbia)

Two phases of archaeological investigation were performed in the Novi Sad City Museum at Petrovaradin Fortress. In this study, we summarize the results of geo-archaeological investigations of the second period of excavation inside the Novi Sad City Museum building. The fortress is situated on a Danube terrace with the top of the bedrock at ca.123 m asl. The investigated section consists of undisturbed fine-sandy silt. The grain-size distribution of the sediments indicates clearly its alluvial reworking but shows also a general similarity with typical primary loess in the region. All analyzed proxies indicate slightly stronger weathering in the upper part of the profile. Luminescence ages suggest that the investigated sequence covers the last glacial period and the terrace presumably formed during MIS 4. Subsequently, the Danube started its incision at the start of the next warmer period (MIS 3) onward. This terrace age and elevation enable us to derive an uplift rate of the terrace of ca. 0.73 mm/a for the last 60 ka, which seems to increase towards the present. Basal loessic material, in which artifacts occur, likely in the reworked position, indicate that the area close to today's Petrovaradin Fortress was already inhabited in MIS 5.

A phylogeny for African Pipistrellus species with the description of a new species from West Africa (Mammalia: Chiroptera)

Pipistrelloid bats are among the most poorly known bats in Africa, a status no doubt exacerbated by their small size, drab brown fur and general similarity in external morphology. The systematic relationships of these bats have been a matter of debate for decades, and despite some recent molecular studies, much confusion remains. Adding to the confusion has been the recent discovery of numerous new species. Using two mitochondrial genes, we present a phylogeny for this group that supports the existence of three main clades in Africa: Pipistrellus, Neoromicia and the recently described Parahypsugo. However, the basal branches of the tree are poorly supported. Using an integrative taxonomic approach, we describe a new species of Pipistrellus sp. nov. from West Africa, which has been cited as Pipistrellus cf. grandidieri in the literature. We demonstrate that it is not closely related to Pipistrellus grandidieri from East Africa, but instead is sister to Pipistrellus hesperidus. Furthermore, the species Pi. grandidieri appears to be embedded in the newly described genus Parahypsugo, and is therefore better placed in that genus than in Pipistrellus. This has important taxonomic implications, because a new subgenus (Afropipistrellus) described for Pi. grandidieri predates Parahypsugo and should therefore be used for the entire “Parahypsugo” clade. The Upper Guinea rainforest zone, and particularly the upland areas in the south-eastern Guinea—northern Liberia border region may represent a global hotspot for pipistrelloid bats and should receive increased conservation focus as a result.

NOVEL EVALUATION INDEX OF CROSS-SCALE DISCRETIZATION UNCERTAINTY BASED ON LOCAL STANDARD SCORE

Optimal discretization of continuously valued attributes is an uncertainty problem. The uncertainty of discretization is propagated and accumulated in the process of data mining, which has a direct influence on the usability and operation of the output results for mining. To address the limitations of existing discretization evaluation indices in describing accuracy and operation efficiency, this work suggests a discretization uncertainty index based on individuals. This method takes the local standard score as the general similarity measure in and between the intervals and evaluates discretization reliability according to the relative position of individuals in each interval. The experiment shows the new evaluation index is consistent with commonly used metrics. Under the premise of guaranteeing the validity of discrete evaluation, the proposed method has greater description accuracy and operation efficiency than extant approaches; it also has more advantages for massive data processing and special distribution detection.