Paleolithic hunting in a southern Moravian landscape: The case of Milovice IV,Czech Republic

The Dolní Věstonice–Pavlov–Milovice area (Czech Republic) on the slopes of the Pavlov Hills provides an opportunity for correlating the geomorphology of the Dyje River valley with Gravettian settlement patterns. Although the sites vary in size and complexity, they create a regular chain of strategic locations at elevations between 200 m and 240 m asl. In 2009, a road collapsed into deserted cellars inside the village of Milovice and revealed a complex of archaeological layers deep within loess, at an elevation of only 175 m asl. This paper presents an analysis of this atypical archaeological site location and compares the results with the other sites. We argue that this location allowed direct contact with mammoth herds concentrated on the floodplain, while the aquatic environment offered possibilities for gathering plants and fishing. This site represents a new aspect of organized settlement, hunting strategies, and short‐distance human movements during the Gravettian within this area. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Characterisation of concentrates of heavy mineral sands by micro-Raman spectrometry and CC-SEM/EDX with HCA

The effectiveness of electrostatic separation of zircon and TiO₂ phases during the processing of heavy mineral concentrates derived from heavy mineral sands depends upon the chemical, physical and mineralogical characteristics of the concentrates. Here the authors’ demonstrate the use of combined micro-Raman spectrometry (MRS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and computer controlled scanning electron microscopy coupled with an energy-dispersive X-ray detector (CC-SEM/EDX), followed by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) to determining these characteristics on samples from the non-magnetic fraction of the Richards Bay (South Africa) heavy mineral concentrate. All samples were found to be predominately comprised a heterogeneous population of grains of zircon and rutile and other TiO₂ polymorphs with diverse physicochemical properties. Combined MRS and CC-SEM/EDX enabled the identification of textural characteristics which impacted on the efficiency of electrostatic separation of zircon and rutile concentrate streams.     

What can we learn from the projections of changes of flow patterns? Results from Polish case studies

River flow projections for two future time horizons and RCP 8.5 scenario, generated by two projects (CHASE-PL and CHIHE) in the Polish-Norwegian Research Programme, were compared. The projects employed different hydrological models over different spatial domains. The semi-distributed, process-based, SWAT model was used in the CHASE-PL project for the entire Vistula and Odra basins area, whilst the lumped, conceptual, HBV model was used in the CHIHE project for eight Polish catchments, for which the comparison study was made. Climate projections in both studies originated from the common EURO-CORDEX dataset, but they were different, e.g. due to different bias correction approaches. Increases in mean annual and seasonal flows were projected in both studies, yet the magnitudes of changes were largely different, in particular for the lowland catchments in the far future. The HBV-based increases were significantly higher in the latter case than the SWAT-based increases in all seasons except winter. Uncertainty in projections is high and creates a problem for practitioners.     

Damage reconstruction of 3D frames using genetic algorithms with Levenberg–Marquardt local search

A damage detection method based on harmonic structural vibrations has been applied to reconstruct typical damage patterns of reinforced concrete beams and frames vibrating in three dimensions. It has been shown that comparison of harmonic vibrations of damaged and intact structures makes it possible to formulate optimization criterion which can be solved effectively for large number of unknowns. The application of combined genetic algorithms and Levenberg–Marquardt local search enabled to reconstruct vectors of distinct stiffness distributions containing up to 32 elements with stiffness loss as low as 5% and with accuracy of 1%. To test the algorithm in more realistic environment of practical data acquisition, measuring noise with various levels has been added to the analyzed signal. Such a method of damage detection can be quite effective during post-earthquake assessment of civil engineering structures or if one wants to control the stiffness loss of a reinforced concrete structure after it was accidentally overloaded.     

On the vertical distribution of passive species in the atmospheric boundary layer

A similarity theory presented by Sorbjan (1986) is extended by taking into consideration diffusion of passive species (e.g., specific humidity) in the atmospheric boundary layer. Theoretical similarity functions are obtained for the convective and stable-continuous regimes.On leave from Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw Technical University, Poland.     

Rockburst induced ground motion—a comparative study

While rockbursts from underground copper mining in Western Poland normally produce surface peak ground accelerations (PGA) and velocities of 0.05–0.1 g and 1–3 cm/s, occasionally these peak motions may exceed 0.15 g and 10 cm/s, respectively. These larger motions are of considerable concern and an investigation has been undertaken to define the nature of these larger induced ground motions. This paper compares these rockburst motions with low intensity earthquakes. Various strong motion parameters such as PGA, peak ground velocity (PGV) and displacements as well as strong motion duration, Arias intensity, Fourier and response spectra are compared with those from earthquakes. It is concluded that although short duration is the most obvious parameter that differentiates rockbursts from earthquakes, in fact their high dominant frequencies, which result in high PGA/PGV ratios differentiate them the most. Two types of rockburst-induced ground motions are indicated in this paper: typical—with 3–6 months return period and characteristic, high frequency content—as well as rare events similar to shallow, low intensity earthquakes.     

Distribution of time lags between successive petroleum exploration activities

Four time lags are studied: (1) drilling activity behind seismic activity; (2) oil and gas reserves discovered behind drilling activity; (3) oil and gas production behind reserves discovered; and (4) oil and gas production behind drilling activity. A ridge regression method is used to estimate the distributions of these lags for 50 countries and regions active in petroleum exploration. A complete review of obtained results is given as well as an interpretation of estimated models and failed ridge regressions. Five types of distributions have been found: decreasing monotonically, unimodal, bimodal, uniform, and increasing monotonically. The distributions allow estimating the capital freezing in the exploration process and assessing the resulting policy made by all companies active in a country. For example, the actual exploration history in Poland is analyzed with the use of distributed time-lag approach and net present-value concept. An overinvestment in drilling in comparison with petroleum infrastructure has been stated on the basis of the excessive lagging of production behind drilling activity. A direction of further lag studies is also suggested.     

Fe–S mineralization in the Jurassic biogenic remains (Częstochowa,Poland)

Various Fe–S minerals of the mackinawite–greigite–pyrite association, ubiquitous in biogenic remains from Jurassic mudstones, have been described in detail in an SEM–EDS study. Two diagenetic stages of Fe sulphide formation and preservation in the Jurassic organic skeletons are identified. In the first stage, pyrite formed as euhedra and framboids shortly after deposition, mainly in the interiors of the skeletons which still contained labile organic matter. The second stage of iron sulphide formation was related to the later stages of diagenesis, when the influence of the surrounding sediment was more dominant, although some organic matter was still present in the biogenic skeletons. A Fe-rich carbonate–aluminosilicate cement was then introduced between the earliest iron sulphides and later subsequently sulphidized, to form a metastable iron monosulphide of mackinawite composition and then greigite.     

Statistics of shallow convection on Mars based on large-eddy simulations. Part 2: effects of wind shear

Effects of wind on quasi-steady, shallow convection in the Martian boundary layer are studied using a large-eddy simulation model. Convection in the model is generated by the radiative flux divergence and the strength of the surface heat flux, which do not vary in time. The resulting convective boundary layer exhibits transient, irregular, horizontal cellular structures, transported by wind, and a lack of well-pronounced regular horizontal rolls, observed for analogous conditions on Earth. The dimensionless statistics of turbulence are generally similar to those generated in the windless conditions, and depend on the ratio F, defined in terms of the integrated radiative and turbulent heating rates in the boundary layer. The simulations show that variations of the radiative heating influence the temperature statistics, while their effects on the wind velocity are relatively small. The horizontal velocity variances do not show a strong dependence on parameter F, in contrast with the vertical velocity variances, which are strongly dependent on F.