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Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination has been reported to decrease susceptibility to respiratory tract infections, an effect proposed to be mediated by the general long-term boosting of innate immune mechanisms, also termed trained immunity. Here, we discuss the non-specific beneficial effects of BCG against viral infections and whether this vaccine may afford protection to COVID-19. Could the BCG vaccine be used to bridge the gap until a specific COVID-19 vaccine is developed? Luke O’Neill and Mihai Netea discuss the science behind this approach.

As a response to Hurricane Mitch and the resulting widespread loss of life and destruction of Honduran infrastructure in 1998, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) conducted the first wide-area airborne lidar topographic mapping project in Central America. The survey was executed by the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin (BEG) in 2000, and it was intended to cover 240 square kilometers distributed among 15 flood-prone communities throughout Honduras. The original data processing produced basic digital elevation models at 1.5-meter grid spacing which were used as inputs for hydrological modeling. The USGS published the results in a series of technical reports in 2002. The authors became interested in this dataset in 2013 while searching for geospatial data that would provide additional context and comparative references for an archaeological lidar project conducted in 2012 in the Honduran Mosquitia. After multiple requests to representatives from the USGS and BEG, we found various types of processed data in personal and institutional archives, culminating in the identification of 8-mm magnetic tapes that contained the original point clouds. Point clouds for the 15 communities plus a test area centered on the Maya site of Copan were recovered from the tapes (16 areas totaling 700 km2). These point clouds have been reprocessed by the authors using contemporary software and methods into higher resolution and fidelity products. Within these new products, we have identified and mapped multiple archaeological sites in proximity to modern cities, many of which are not part of the official Honduran site registry. Besides improving our understanding of ancient Honduras, our experiences dealing with issues of data management and access, ethics, and international collaboration have been informative. This paper summarizes our experiences in the hope that they will contribute to the discussion and development of best practices for handling geospatial datasets of archaeological value.

Objectives: This study characterizes patterns of cranial trauma prevalence in a large sample of Upper Paleolithic (UP) fossil specimens (40,000–10,000 BP). Materials and Methods: Our sample comprised 234 individual crania (specimens), representing 1,285 cranial bones (skeletal elements), from 101 Eurasian UP sites. We used generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to assess trauma prevalence in relation to age-at-death, sex, anatomical distribution, and between pre- and post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) samples, while accounting for skeletal preservation. Results: Models predicted a mean cranial trauma prevalence of 0.07 (95% CI 0.003–0.19) at the level of skeletal elements, and of 0.26 (95% CI 0.08–0.48) at the level of specimens, each when 76–100% complete. Trauma prevalence increased with skeletal preservation. Across specimen and skeletal element datasets, trauma prevalence tended to be higher for males, and was consistently higher in the old age group. We found no time-specific trauma prevalence patterns for the two sexes or age cohorts when comparing samples from before and after the LGM. Samples showed higher trauma prevalence in the vault than in the face, with vault remains being affected predominantly in males. Discussion: Cranial trauma prevalence in UP humans falls within the variation described for Mesolithic and Neolithic samples. According to our current dataset, UP males and females were exposed to slightly different injury risks and trauma distributions, potentially due to different activities or behaviors, yet both sexes exhibit more trauma among the old. Environmental stressors associated with climatic changes of the LGM are not reflected in cranial trauma prevalence. To analyze trauma in incomplete skeletal remains we propose GLMMs as an informative alternative to crude frequency calculations.

Ocean-going ships were key to rising maritime economies of the Early Modern period, and understanding how they were built is critical to grasp the challenges faced by shipwrights and merchant seafarers. Shipwreck timbers hold material evidence of the dynamic interplay of wood supplies, craftmanship, and evolving ship designs that helped shape the Early Modern world. Here we present the results of dendroarchaeological research carried out onBatavia’s wreck timbers, currently on display at the Western Australian Shipwrecks Museum in Fremantle. Built in Amsterdam in 1628 CE and wrecked on its maiden voyage in June 1629 CE in Western Australian waters,Bataviaepitomises Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC) shipbuilding. In the 17th century, the VOC grew to become the first multinational trading enterprise, prompting the rise of the stock market and modern capitalism. Oak (Quercussp.) was the preferred material for shipbuilding in northern and western Europe, and maritime nations struggled to ensure sufficient supplies to meet their needs and sustain their ever-growing mercantile fleets and networks. Our research illustrates the compatibility of dendrochronological studies with musealisation of shipwreck assemblages, and the results demonstrate that the VOC successfully coped with timber shortages in the early 17th century through diversification of timber sources (mainly Baltic region, Lübeck hinterland in northern Germany, and Lower Saxony in northwest Germany), allocation of sourcing regions to specific timber products (hull planks from the Baltic and Lübeck, framing elements from Lower Saxony), and skillful woodworking craftmanship (sapwood was removed from all timber elements). These strategies, combined with an innovative hull design and the use of wind-powered sawmills, allowed the Dutch to produce unprecedented numbers of ocean-going ships for long-distance voyaging and interregional trade in Asia, proving key to their success in 17th-century world trade.

Understanding ‘counter archaeologies’ as taking a counterpoint and challenging normative perspectives, this paper considers infancy in Iron-Age Scandinavia through an examination of children deposited in settlements and wetlands. The paper reports on a data set of child deposition from Scandinavia in the first millennium CE, and compares the practices with cases from other Germanic areas. While a complex phenomenon where cause of death is mostly unknown, textual sources indicate that neither limited emotional responses to child loss nor infanticide was uncommon in the first millennium CE. Infanticide is widespread cross-culturally, yet is foreign to many researchers because it counters deep-held contemporary, Western perceptions of universal maternal instinct. The paper questions whether infant loss within Scandinavian and Germanic societies prompted emotional responses akin to Western, contemporary reactions. Were infants more closely related to animate objects than human beings? And did this ontological logic provoke the use of infant remains in ritual deposition?

AbstractIn the last decade, macro religious institutions have undergone a process of digitalisation that enabled them to incorporate Internet Communication Technologies in their organisational infrastructure. Stemming from digital religion scholarship, the research presented in this paper relate to a study of the philosophy and functioning of an innovative Catholic media enterprise called Christian Media Center (CMC). Based in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the CMC was established through the cooperation between the long-standing Franciscan Order and the technology-savvy Brazilian community of Canção Nova. Accordingly, this paper asks: which forms of interdenominational negotiation are involved in the functioning of the CMC? Drawing on interviews conducted during three years, this research will outline the process of internal negotiation required by the development of this Catholic new media project and propose possible directions for future research.

Chemical reactions have thermodynamic limits on species conversion which can negatively impact process design. Unconverted feedstock often needs to be separated and recycled, increasing energy demand, process complexity and cost. Just as is the case for heat exchangers, countercurrent reactor systems can improve the thermodynamic limits on species exchange and conversion. This work describes and demonstrates a countercurrent redox reactor system, which can be realised in a packed-bed chemical-looping reactor by storing the favourable oxygen chemical potential inclines using the unique properties of non-stoichiometric oxides. The concept is analogous to a regenerative heat exchanger, but for oxygen exchange and storage, and so we use the term regenerative reactor. We apply this approach to the reverse water–gas shift reaction, which is a critical step in the processing of synthetic e-fuels. The concept is modelled and experimentally validated via a lab-scale demonstration performed with CeO₂ at 1073 K, which resulted in a CO₂ -to-CO molar conversion of 88 %, compared to a thermodynamic limit of 58 % for the conventional process at the same conditions. The modelling results indicate that the ideal thermodynamic conversion can be approximately doubled via this method. Furthermore, the CO is formed separately from the H₂ flow, allowing for the syngas composition to be finely tuned for downstream processing. Chemical Engineering Journal, 461 ISSN:1873-3212 ISSN:1385-8947 ISSN:0923-0467 ISSN:0300-9467