Digital Commons Network^™

Petrographic And Microscopic Examination Of Crusader-Period Pottery From ‘Akko, The Knights’ Hotel Site, Anastasia Shapiro

'Atiqot

A petrographic and microscopic study was undertaken for 14 Crusader-period vessels from the Knight’ Hotel site in ‘Akko. The petrographic analysis confirmed the presumed Egyptian origin of twelve vessels, while the microscopic examination of two pithoi suggested that their raw material originated within an ophiolitic complex found in Venice and its vicinity.

Crusader-Period Ceramics From The Knights’ Hotel Site, ‘Akko, Edna J. Stern, Nohar Shahar

'Atiqot

The Crusader-period ceramic assemblage unearthed in the Knights’ Hotel site in ‘Akko contains a large variety of daily wares. The assemblage consists of local and imported wares from various regions, some of which were identified through petrographic analysis. The imported wares indicate trade connections with Mediterranean port cities, and the petrographic analysis identified a new group of vessels from Egypt’s northern Nile region. The article outlines the pottery typology and quantification, and presents the ceramic distribution within the excavated urban area. The findings indicate changes in land use, as some residential and commercial areas were converted into dumps and cesspits. …

Daily Life And Industry In Crusader ‘Akko: The Knights’ Hotel Site, Danny Syon

'Atiqot

This report details the second season of excavations at the Knights’ Hotel site, carried out in 2007, covering three areas (A–C) not excavated in the first season (1995). The excavations revealed domestic and public(?) architecture dating from the thirteenth century CE. The architectural features are mostly similar to the ones exposed in the first season and include an abundance of water and sanitary installations: cisterns, wells and cesspits. The mixed character of this neighborhood of the capital of the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem, and the daily life of its residents is highlighted by the wealth of pottery and glass vessels …

Remains Of Two Iron Age Iib–C(?) Updraft Pottery Kilns At The Foot Of Tel Gamma (Tell Jemma), Davida Eisenberg-Degen, Ilana Peters, Svetlana Talis, Yael Abadi-Reiss, Emily Bischoff Bruintjes, Yotam Asscher

'Atiqot

An excavation southwest of Tel Gamma exposed two Iron Age II updraft pottery kilns and a refuse pit. The eastern kiln was only partially preserved; its fill contained workshop debris and storage-jar wasters. The better-preserved western kiln retained an almost intact, elongated combustion chamber with two sets of mud-brick flues and evidence of periodic upkeep. An activity layer was identified between and around the kilns, from which a mixed Iron IIA–C ceramic assemblage and a few stone artifacts were collected. The stone artifacts likely served in fine grinding and burnishing. In the refuse pit, potsherds, vitrified bricks, animal bones and …

A Middle Bronze Iia Pottery Production Site On The Northern Bank Of NaḥAl Soreq, Near Yavne-Yam, Lily Singer-Avitz, Yossi Levy, Etan Ayalon

'Atiqot

A Middle Bronze Age IIA pottery production site was uncovered on the northern bank of Naḥal Soreq, near Yavne-Yam. Excavations revealed installations, including pits, an oven, a stone pavement and a two-story pottery kiln. The discovery of a potter’s wheel and petrographic analysis confirm local ceramic production using nearby ḥamra and kurkar materials. Stone anchors found on-site suggest the transport of vessels via small boats along the stream, connecting the site with nearby settlements such as Nabi Rubin and Yavne-Yam.

Middle Bronze Age Human Skeletal Remains From Nahal Rimmonim, Yossi Nagar

'Atiqot

The excavation at Nahal Rimmonim yielded the remains of seven individuals interred in jar burials and a grave dating, respectively, to Middle Bronze Age I–II and III. The MB I–II storage-jar burials were uncovered in a residential area, comprising three infants—a well-documented trait of the period. The MB III remains include the primary burial of four individuals in stone-built graves: three adults and a child aged three–four years.

The Faunal Assemblage From Nahal Rimmonim, An Intermediate And Middle Bronze Age Site In The Jezreel Valley, Zohar Turgeman-Yaffe

'Atiqot

The rural site of Naḥal Rimmonim yielded 421 identifiable animal bones that originated in well-stratified loci from five strata dating to the Intermediate and Middle Bronze Ages. The site’s economy seems to have been independent, or production-based, with residents providing most of their own needs while also trading with other groups. The economy was based on animal husbandry, with some hunting, mostly of gazelles, alongside the production of secondary products, such as milk, wool and labor, with a preference for wool. Pigs were the most common species in all domestic levels, including a unique pig burial. The faunal assemblage from …

The Flint Assemblage From Nahal Rimmonim, Ariel Vered

'Atiqot

The excavation at Naḥal Rimmonim yielded flint items dating to the Intermediate and Middle Bronze Ages, alongside intrusive highly patinated Middle Paleolithic artifacts. The Intermediate Bronze Age assemblage represents a local, expedient industry that produced simple flake tools from locally available lithic resources and long, regular blades, probably imported as blanks, continuing the Canaanean blade industry of the Early Bronze Age. The Middle Bronze Age assemblage attests to the production of flakes on which simple ad hoc tools were manufactured on locally available raw materials. The production of Canaanean blades ceased abruptly, probably when the Second Urban Revolution took place …

Petrographic Examination Of The Intermediate And Middle Bronze Age Vessels From Nahal Rimmonim, Anastasia Shapiro

'Atiqot

This paper presents petrographic data retrieved from samples taken from pottery found in the context of a Middle Bronze Age pottery workshop and from a domestic pottery assemblage dating from the Intermediate Bronze Age. The results for both periods mostly point to on-site and local production, contributing to our knowledge concerning pottery production and trade in the Jezreel Valley and adjacent areas.

Nahal Rimmonim: An Intermediate–Middle Bronze Age Village And Pottery Workshop In The Jezreel Valley, Karen Covello-Paran, Yotam Tepper

'Atiqot

The excavations at Naḥal Rimmonim exposed a stratified rural settlement spanning the Intermediate and Middle Bronze Age III. Stratified remains—including domestic structures, installations, a pottery workshop and burials—demonstrate diachronic shifts in site function and organization. The Intermediate Bronze Age strata exhibit substantial domestic activity with evidence of localized adaptation to marshy conditions. In the Middle Bronze Age I–II phases, a specialized potters’ workshop and later domestic structures highlight evolving intrasite spatial planning and craft production, likely tied to economic interactions with nearby Tel Megiddo. Elite tombs with prestige goods from the Middle Bronze Age III, signal socioeconomic ties to urban …

A Major Pottery-Production Center At Yavne, Israel, Liat Nadav-Ziv, Jon Seligman

'Atiqot

In several periods between the Middle Bronze Age and the Umayyad period, Yavne was a major center of pottery production in the southern coastal plain of the Levant. The location of the site next to Naḥal Soreq, where replenishable clay sources were easily accessible, was a significant factor in the development of the large-scale ceramic industry. The almost 100 updraft kilns from several periods exposed in the extensive excavations carried out at Yavne, and the kilns uncovered at other sites in the southern coastal plain, enable tracing the development of kiln technology and the continuity of pottery production in the …

“Shihin Fr” Oil Lamps: Technology From Scratch, Yehoshua Dray, Ilana Gonen

'Atiqot

Recent excavations at Shiḥin, near ancient Ẓippori (Sepphoris) in Lower Galilee (Isarel), have revealed evidence of a Roman-period ceramic oil-lamp production workshop. The findings include a pottery kiln, lamp molds and industrial waste, prompting a reevaluation of oil-lamp production technologies and introducing new research questions. These questions were explored through experimental archaeology aimed at reconstructing manufacturing methods. This article focuses on the production technology of the Shiḥin FR oil lamps, distinguished by their unique designs and limited production period (70–135 CE). These chalk-mold-designed lamps were examined through high-resolution 3D scanning, reverse engineering and experimental archaeological practices, including mold carving, lamp …

The Jewish Chalk-Vessel Industry In Galilee And The Golan, Yonatan Adler

'Atiqot

This study explores archaeological remains of the Jewish chalk-vessel industry in Galilee and the Golan during the Early Roman period. It examines recent excavations at ‘Einot Amitai, Reina and Lower Wadi es-Sufera, focusing on raw materials, manufacturing techniques and typologies of vessels produced at these sites. The study also looks at the chronology of this industry, exploring when chalk-vessel production in the north first began and when it ended. Throughout the paper, the archaeological remains from the northern sites are compared and contrasted with findings from Jerusalem-area workshops. Finally, the study investigates what the archaeological remains analyzed here may indicate …

Perfume-Making And Craft-Knowledge Transmission In The Middle Assyrian Period, Yu Song

'Atiqot

This paper examines the art of perfume making during the Middle Assyrian period, focusing on the perfume recipes unearthed in the Temple of Aššur. These recipes serve as a lens through which we can observe the evolution of crafting knowledge, transitioning from practical application to written documentation, facilitated by the intermediary role of perfumers. Concurrently, the perfumed oils detailed in these recipes bear connections to royal rituals, shedding light on the consecration of Assyrian royal power. I argue that the transmission of craft knowledge and techniques is intricately linked to the ascent of the Assyrian Empire and the evolution of …

Khirbat Khudash (Bet Arye): A Royal Olive Oil Production Center In The Kingdom Of Israel, David Eitam

'Atiqot

Khirbat Khudash (Ḥudaš; modern-day Bet Arye), a small planned and fortified Iron Age IIB site with numerous oil presses, was discovered during a survey of the southwest Samaria Highlands by the author in 1979–1980 and subsequently excavated. The discovery and study of Khirbat Khudash, along with the nearby similar sites of Qla‘, Khirbat Deir Daqla and Kurnet Bir et-Tell—and their comparison to other Iron Age II rural settlements in southwest Samaria—illuminates a little-known but significant economic activity of mass-produced olive oil controlled by the Israelite Kingdom in the eighth century BCE. The site and pressing installations are described here, with …

Secondary Use Of Textiles For Wick Production In Light Of The Finds From The Intermediate Bronze Age Cemetery At Newe Efrayim, Naama Sukenik, Yonah Maor, Yaniv Agmon, Yossi Elisha, Gilad Itach

'Atiqot

Three Intermediate Bronze Age wicks discovered in the Newe Efrayim cemetery constitute some of the earliest known archaeological evidence of wick use, an essential object for lighting, yet lacking distinctive features, as it was intended to be burned, making it a rare find. The exceptional preservation of the wicks sheds light on both preservation issues and the technological aspects of wick production in antiquity. The wicks were made from textiles, indicating the maximal reuse of a valuable raw material after it had served its original purpose. These finds offer evidence of material recycling in the ancient world. It is likely …

The Development Of Tin Bronze In The Southern Levant During The Bronze Age, Ilana Peters, Yotam Asscher, Naama Yahalom-Mack

'Atiqot

The paper surveys the development of the use of tin bronze in the Southern Levant, outlining its emergence in the late Early Bronze Age until its eventual predominance in the Late Bronze Age. As there are no tin or arsenical copper sources in the region, the paper discusses the potential sources based on archaeological and textual evidence, including recent analytical data, reflecting a possible correlation between the changes in metal sources and the shift from arsenical copper to tin bronze.

Researching Chalcolithic Ivories From The Southern Levant: Craft Items For Ritual, Prestige And Exchange, Harel Shochat, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Avishay Levi-Hevroni, Martin D. Pasternak, Pablo Betzer, Daniel Varga, Yael Abadi-Reiss, Olga Negnevitsky, Ilan Naor, Ianir Milevski

'Atiqot

The Late Chalcolithic period in the Southern Levant, mainly the Ghassulian culture (mid-fifth–mid-fourth millennia BCE), heralded a new and unique trajectory in craft specialization, with ivory objects, including figurines, tools and vessels, among the outstanding ones. Hippopotamus and elephant ivory, probably of varied geographic provenience, were the raw materials employed. This paper presents two recently excavated ivory caches from the Late Chalcolithic sites of Ḥorbat Raqiq and Yavne (East), and reviews Chalcolithic ivories from this region. Additionally, a systematic microscopic analysis to determine the taxonomic identification of raw material and typological classification of each artifact is presented, offering novel perspectives …

Fabrication Of Antibacterial And Functional Films From Starch-Polyvinylpyrrolidone Composite Using Plasma Treatment And Silver Nanoparticles, Muhammad Nazrul Islam, Nikitha Modupalli, Md Mahfuzur Rahman

Food Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Biopolymers and water-soluble nontoxic synthetic polymer composites using silver nanoparticles are astute approaches for antibacterial film fabrication. Moreover, surface treatment of the biopolymeric composite film by cold plasma can enhance the biocidal activity. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized by using the reduction method. Films were fabricated with different ratios of rice starch and polyvinylpyrrolidones (PVP) (1:0, 1:1, and 3:1), with and without silver (Ag) nanoparticles. A plasma jet was used to treat the film's surfaces by placing the Film 0.5 cm below the plasma discharge. Surface morphology was monitored by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the existence of Ag nanoparticles in …

Data For Recreation Effects On Soil Carbon, Biocrust, Soil Stability, And Invasives In Indian Creek, Bears Ears National Monument, Elisabeth M. Currit, Tara B. Bishop, April Hulet, Nathan Allen Currit, Teresa Gomez, Nathan T. Thompson, Shannon Lambson, Heidi Jean Wilding Mann, Evan Miller, Erin Jones, Alexandra Olson, Katherine A. Anselmi, Meredith Murdock, Ella Reid, Kirsten Steele, Indy Lawrence, Neil Hansen

ScholarsArchive Data

This data is about how different types of recreation impact different soil and vegetation properties related to soil carbon in Indian Creek, Bears Ears National Monument. The data was collected from May 2023 to October 2023. It contains plant functional group cover, biocrust cover and type, soil stability, and compaction data for each individual site. There are 5-7 of each site type: camping, foot trails, and motorized offroading trails, and undisturbed sites, with a total of 30 sites. It also contains the code used to analyze the raw data and the figures created.

Artificial Intelligence In Ocular Transcriptomics: Applications Of Unsupervised And Supervised Learning, Catherine Lalman, Yimin Yang, Janice L. Walker

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Transcriptomic profiling is a powerful tool for dissecting the cellular and molecular complexity of ocular tissues, providing insights into retinal development, corneal disease, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. With the expansion of microarray, bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), and single-cell RNA-seq technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a key strategy for analyzing high-dimensional gene expression data. This review synthesizes AI-enabled transcriptomic studies in ophthalmology from 2019 to 2025, highlighting how supervised and unsupervised machine learning (ML) methods have advanced biomarker discovery, cell type classification, and eye development and ocular disease modeling. Here, we discuss unsupervised techniques, such as principal component analysis …

Effects Of Cryoprotective And Mitochondrial Stabilizing Agents On Vitrified Bovine Oocytes, Allison Hoang

LSU Master's Theses

Oocyte vitrification success is highly dependent on cryoprotectant agent (CPA) choice as well as possible additives that could help preserve mitochondrial membrane potential (mMP), reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and calcium homeostasis within the cell. It is a delicate balance between levels needed for proper oocyte function and activation and levels needed to induce apoptotic pathways. The results of oocyte cryopreservation determine the eventual oocyte viability and subsequent fertilization and embryo development.

In this study potential permeating cryoprotectant combinations were explored such as ethylene glycol (EG) and propylene glycol (PG) or EG in combination with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Also, the …

The Role Of Recruited Adipose Stromal Cells And Their Fibroblastic Differentiation In Cancer, Lingyi Cai, Mikhail G Kolonin, Dimitris Anastassiou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Adipose stromal cells (ASCs) are perivascular mesenchymal progenitors of adipose tissue. In cancer patients, ASCs can mobilize and migrate to the tumor, where they subsequently play an important role in cancer progression. This biological process involves the conversion of recruited ASCs into cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). ASC-derived CAFs influence the tumor microenvironment through extracellular matrix remodeling, vascularization, and immunomodulation. These and other processes mediated by secreted paracrine factors also affect gene expression in carcinoma cells to promote the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), metabolic adaptation, survival, and invasiveness of cancer cells. ASC-derived CAFs can enhance tumor aggressiveness, accounting in part for the link …

Reproducibility Of Statistically Significant Phase Iii Oncology Trials: An In Silico Meta-Epidemiological Analysis, Alexander D Sherry, Pavlos Msaouel, Avital M Miller, Timothy A Lin, Joseph Abi Jaoude, Ramez Kouzy, Adina H Passy, Tomer Meirson, Nikolaos Ignatiadis, Zachary R Mccaw, Erik Van Zwet, Ethan B Ludmir

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: The conventional assumption that P values ≤ 0.05 imply reproducible effects has come under recent criticism. This concern is particularly relevant in oncology, as phase III oncology trials, which directly inform practice, are usually not repeated. Using advanced modeling techniques, we investigated the relationship between P values and reproducibility in oncology.

Methods: We obtained the signal-to-noise ratio distribution in phase III oncology using outcomes from 632 two-arm superiority trials enrolling 496,219 patients. With this distribution, we estimated successful replication probability as the probability that a replicate trial, having the same design, effect size, and standard error, would have a …

Suppression Of Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy By A Macrophage Efferocytosis Receptor, Sahil Shah, Aparnaa Ananthakrishnan, Matthew Deberge, Kristofor Glinton, Rebecca T L Jones, Mallory Filipp, Ivana Shen, Joey Lockhart, Connor W Lantz, Edward B Thorp

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy remains a major cause of late morbidity following heart transplantation. While accumulating evidence implicates innate macrophages in the inflammatory progression of CAV, the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. In murine models of CAV, we identified proteolytic cleavage of MERTK, a key anti-inflammatory receptor on macrophages, as a contributing factor to CAV progression. In a model of CAV, MERTK deficiency accelerated allograft rejection and increased intimal leukocyte infiltration. In contrast, mice expressing a genetically cleavage-resistant form of MERTK (MertkCR/CR) exhibited prolonged graft survival, reduced intimal thickening, diminished immune cell infiltration, and decreased circulating effector T cells. …

Cathartocytosis: Jettisoning Of Cellular Material During Reprogramming Of Differentiated Cells, Jeffrey W Brown, Xiaobo Lin, Gabriel Anthony Nicolazzi, Xuemei Liu, Thanh Nguyen, Megan D Radyk, Joseph Burclaff, Jason C Mills

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Injury causes differentiated cells to undergo massive reprogramming to become proliferative and repair tissue via paligenosis. Gastric chief cells use paligenosis to reprogram into progenitor-like spasmolytic-polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM) cells. Stage 1 of paligenosis is the downscaling of mature cell architecture via a process involving lysosomes. Here, we notice that sulfated glycoproteins are not only digested during paligenosis but also excreted into the gland. Various genetic and pharmacological approaches show that endoplasmic reticulum membranes and secretory granule cargo are also excreted and that the process proceeds in parallel with but is mechanistically independent of autophagy. Three-dimensional light and electron microscopy demonstrated …

Montserrat Developments Impacting Local Coral Reefs, Emma I. Bartholomew

2025 Symposium

Montserrat is a small island in the Caribbean, and over half of the island is in the exclusion zone because of the active volcano, Soufrière Hills. In that half was the old capital, Plymouth, which has since been abandoned, and its old port. The old port was getting less reliable and accessible, so they decided to build a new port in Little Bay, closer to the seat of government in Brades. This study explored how the addition of the new port impacted the corals in that area. We explored several different bays and recorded the diversity and health of the …

Rear Leg-Derived Moment Contributes To Resistance Against Hip Extension In Bulgarian Split Squats, Hiroshi Arakawa, Hikaru Nakashima, Xuanrui Li, Michiya Tanimoto

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 18(7): 881-894, 2025. The Bulgarian split squat (BSS) is a unilateral exercise that emphasizes hip extension more than knee extension, compared to other squat variations. This study aimed to (1) empirically verify the existence of the rear leg-derived moment (M_RL)—a theoretically plausible but previously untested external resistive hip moment acting against the net hip extension moment (M_HE) of the front leg—and (2) examine how stance width and forward trunk-leaning angles affect M_RL during the BSS. Nine trained male participants performed bodyweight BSS under two stance conditions (wide and narrow) and …

16-Week Physical Transition From Professional Mma To Tactical Firefighting: A Case Study, Cole D. Smeester, Gabriel J. Sanders, Corey Peacock, Jose Antonio

Journal for Sports Neuroscience

Firefighters, whose occupation involves intense physical, mental, and environmental demands, must be physically and mentally prepared to perform job-specific tasks effectively and safely. Nearly half of all injuries sustained on and off the fireground are musculoskeletal, highlighting issues in the preparation and maintenance strategies for work preparedness among firefighters. This case study examines the effectiveness of a 16-week conventional, conjugate strength and conditioning model on a fire recruit transitioning from a career as a professional MMA fighter. Specific data metrics were used to assess increases in firefighter-specific performance (i.e., EPAT time and body composition). After the 16-week program, the participant …

Idmatch Bike Fitting Enhances Power Output In Recreational Cyclists: A Pilot Study, Evan T. Hoyt, Gregory N. Ruegsegger

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 18(2): 864-880, 2025. Optimizing bike position is essential for enhancing cycling performance, improving comfort, and reducing injury risk. This study examined the acute effects of a bike fit using the idmatch^® system on power output, rate of perceived exertion (RPE), and discomfort in recreational cyclists. Twelve participants (10 males, 2 females; 37.0 ± 9.4 years) underwent an idmatch system bike fit, which employs three-dimensional motion capture to optimize rider position. Cyclists completed a six-second peak power test (PPT6) and a 20-minute functional threshold power (FTP) test before and after the fit. Performance metrics (power, …