Economic and ecological consequences of invasive species make biological invasions an influential driver of global change. Monitoring the spread and impacts of non-native species is essential, but often difficult, especially during the initial stages of invasion. The Jorō spider, Trichonephila clavata (L. Koch, 1878, Araneae: Nephilidae), is a large-bodied orb weaver native to Asia, likely introduced to northern Georgia, U.S. around 2010. We investigated the nascent invasion of T. clavata by constructing species distribution models (SDMs) from crowd-sourced data to compare the climate T. clavata experiences in its native range to its introduced range. We found evidence that the climate of T. clavata's native range differs significantly from its introduced range. Species distribution models trained with observations from its native range predict that the most suitable habitats in North America occur north of its current introduced range. Consistent with SDM predictions, T. clavata appears to be spreading faster to the north than to the south. Lastly, we conducted surveys to investigate potential ecological impacts of T. clavata on the diversity of native orb weaving spiders. Importantly, Trichonephila clavata was the most common and abundant species observed in the survey, and was numerically dominant at half of the sites it was present in. Our models also suggest that there is lower native orb weaver species richness and diversity closer to where T. clavata was initially found and where it has been established the longest, though human population density complicates this finding. This early study is the first to forecast how widely this spider may spread in its introduced range and explore its potential ecological impacts. Our results add evidence that T. clavata is an invasive species and deserves much more ecological scrutiny.

The names of Athenian warships are a valuable source for cultural history, but scholars have long laboured without a sense of how these names were chosen. In a recent article, the present author has suggested that naval architects (master craftsmen elected by the Athenian Assembly) were responsible for naming each vessel they built. This explanation applies to the great majority of Athenian warship names known to us, but exceptions to the rule remain. Naval architects cannot have named vessels they did not build, and we know of several foreign-built ships (e.g., captured or donated ships) in the Athenian fleet. Vessels with the special status of ‘sacred triremes’ must also have followed their own unique naming procedure. Such exceptional cases are the subject of this paper.

The neurosurgical workforce in the Caribbean and surrounding countries is largely unknown due to the diversity in cultural, linguistic, political, financial disparities, and colonial history between the countries. About 45 neurosurgeons serve 16 million people in the Caribbean Community and Common Market, a trade alliance including most Caribbean nations. We aimed to understand the current scope of neurosurgical workforce in this region while highlighting any system challenges and potential solutions for upscaling the workforce. We surveyed neurosurgeons within Caribbean countries and surrounding countries online using qualitative and quantitative methods via Qualtrics. Of the 38 countries within the Caribbean and surrounding countries, 26 (68%) were surveyed and of which 18 (69%) replied. In total, 172 regional neurosurgeons were identified, of which 61 (35%) replied-with a majority of general neurosurgeons (56%). Remarkably, the majority of countries failed to meet the threshold workforce density for safe health care-either expressed by full-time equivalent neurosurgeons or neurosurgical centers (see table). Most neurosurgical practices confirmed receiving or sending medical referrals. If so, most referrals took longer than 8 hours without significant difference regarding the destination. Lastly, challenges confronting neurosurgical advancement were found in the following: technology and equipment (40%), trained personnel (31%), hospital or medical center infrastructure (14%), neurosurgical education, and training (44%). To our knowledge, this is the first qualitative and quantitative study exploring the current status of the neurosurgical workforce within the Caribbean and surrounding countries. Identifying resources and challenges can contribute to improving regionalized neurosurgical care.

AbstractEconomic and ecological consequences of invasive species make biological invasions an influential driver of global change. Monitoring the spread and impacts of non-native species is essential, but often difficult, especially during the initial stages of invasion. The Joro spider,Trichonephila clavata(L. Koch, 1878, Araneae: Araneidae), is a large-bodied orb weaver native to Asia, likely introduced to northern Georgia, U.S. around 2010. We investigated the nascent invasion ofT. clavataby constructing species distribution models (SDMs) from crowdsourced data to compare the climateT. clavataexperiences in its native range to its introduced range. We found evidence that the climate ofT. clavata’s native range differs significantly from its introduced range and that the most similar climate in North America to its native range is to the north of its current introduced range. We then compared the SDM predictions to current observations of spread. Consistent with predictions,T. clavataappears to be spreading faster to the north than to the south. Lastly, we conducted surveys to investigate potential ecological impacts ofT. clavataon the diversity of native orb weaving spiders. Importantly,Trichonephila clavatawas the most common and abundant species observed in the survey, and was numerically dominant at half of the sites it was present in. Our models also suggest that there is lower native orb weaver species richness and diversity closer to whereT. clavatawas initially found and where it has been established the longest, though human population density complicates this finding. This early study is the first to forecast how widely this spider may spread in its introduced range and explore potential ecological impacts ofT. clavata, and we call for continued investigation of this invasion’s effects.

AbstractNumerous apprenticeship contracts survive among the papyri of Graeco-Roman Egypt, but scholars have been left guessing whether this documentation offers a sound comparison to job training in Classical Greece. This paper points out that such apprenticeship contracts are firmly attested in a work of Xenophon, revealing that, by the mid fourth century b.c., Athens was already home to the practice of formal apprenticeship.

The City of Hazor is one of the most significant archaeological sites from the biblical period in Israel. Studies on destruction have received much attention in archaeology in recent years. Previous excavations in Hazor have suggested a major conflagration event that destroyed the entire tell site at the end of the Late Bronze Age. The present study re-examines the sedimentary sequence of one of the city’s gates located in Area K by applying a suite of micro-geoarchaeological analyses to understand the stratigraphy previously documented by Yigael Yadin (1972) and later also interpreted by Amnon Ben-Tor et al. (1989); Ben-Tor (1993, 2016); Bechar et al. (2021). In the summer of 2019, 89 bulk sediment samples were taken within squares K5 and K7 in the gate’s passage. This study aimed to understand the archaeological formation processes at the gate and interpret human activities in the Lower City gate of Hazor based on the micro-archaeological record. Laboratory work included Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to analyze sediment samples’ composition and quantify phytoliths, wood ash, and dung spherulite concentrations. The major goals of this study are: a) to study the site formation processes, based on mineralogical assemblages and activity micro-residues, of a Middle Bronze to Late Bronze Age city gate; b) to identify mineralogical- and micro-remains, as indicators for fire and destruction of the gate; c) to identify occupation surfaces within the gate and their associated micro-residues; and d) to re-examine previous interpretations of the history of the gate and Hazor in light of the micro-archaeological record.The results confirmed Yadin’s interpretation of the occupation levels at stratum 3 (MB II-C) and 2 (LB I), but with no evidence for destruction between the strata. Those strata showed typical tell site remains, such as anthropogenic input of ash and phytoliths, indicating more or less continuous urban activity. For Yadin’s stratum 1B gate, we identified the floor, the roof, which was the main element that burnt, overlain by a thick unburnt accumulation of the second floor and final burnt debris atop. Our study also suggested a sequence of events for the fiery destruction of the gate and its collapse. The distribution of phytoliths and wood ash combined with the sediments’ composition proposes a single collapse event caused by fire from within the gate. The minimal anthropogenic record above the destruction horizon indicates possible disuse of the gate area following this major destruction event. The conclusions of this study offer new and direct evidence for the history of the gate at Hazor’s Lower City with continuous activity from the Middle Bronze into the Late Bronze Age, ending with a major and single event of destruction of the site at the end of the Late Bronze Age which was followed by its abandonment.

In Mexico, the estimated Maternal Mortality Ratio is 34.6 deaths per 100,000 estimated births. Consequently, healthcare facilities and services have given precedence to prenatal care, childbirth services, and postpartum care. In Mexico, the Ministry of Health maintains an open database concerning maternal deaths, encompassing 58 variables. Among these variables is the CIE (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems), which covers a total of 248 diseases linked to maternal deaths. Currently, there is no software that classifies women undergoing pregnancy check-ups (according to their socio-clinical risk of mortality), using variables selected with data science. This project is rooted in the methodology advanced by International Business Machines (IBM) for the implementation of data science. The software's utilized model was constructed through the Naïve Bayes supervised learning algorithm, yielding an accuracy of 0.7236. The overall precision stood at 0.75, with an overall recall of 0.74, and an overall F1-score of 0.71. For the eclampsia during labor class, precision reached 0.71, recall was 0.94, and the F1- score attained 0.81. As for secondary or late postpartum hemorrhage, precision scored 0.81, recall measured 0.43, and the F1-score was 0.56.

Antibiograms are cumulative reports of antimicrobial susceptibility results that are used to guide the selection of empirical antibiotic therapy. Although Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines recommend including only organisms that have at least 30 isolates in an antibiogram, previous studies demonstrated that adherence to this recommendation is highly variable. This paper aims to model the impact of small sample sizes on expected levels of error in cumulative antibiograms by comparing percent susceptibility results for random samples to those of the larger, entire data set. The results demonstrate relatively high error rates when utilizing low numbers of isolates in cumulative antibiograms, and provide a discussion point for considering the appropriate number of isolates that could be utilized, and the impact of increasing isolate numbers by including multiple years of data. IMPORTANCE Antibiograms are reports of local antimicrobial susceptibility patterns for common bacteria and yeast that are used to make empirical decisions for patient therapy and also to inform institution therapy guidelines. This study evaluates the impact of low isolate counts on the reliability of antibiograms, and suggests that more institutions should utilize multiple years of data to overcome this issue.