Defensive Wall Research Articles

Urban Landscape in Modern Conditions

In ancient times, the city was a closed space, the main function of which was to protect the inhabitants. Cities in the early stages were isolated and autonomous, including economically. Regardless of the location, the layout included a central square and a market - the trade and economic center of the city, where goods were exchanged. The city remained a closed space until the advent of roads and transport capable of connecting settlements with each other, regardless of weather conditions. The emergence and development of transport has significantly accelerated the pace of life and economic processes. Thanks to transport, an economic space between cities has appeared. The development of economic relations strengthened relations between cities and reduced the need for defense. Gradually, the need for the protective walls of cities came to naught. Today, the defensive walls are for the most part a historical legacy of the past. The modern city has turned into an integral system aimed at meeting the needs of people as soon as possible. Human needs are the main engine of transformations taking place in the modern urban landscape. At present, the urban landscape and architecture are not rigidly tied to either architectural styles or national traditions of urban planning. The modern urban landscape meets the needs of people in comfort, convenience, environmental friendliness and aesthetics. The increase in urban population density, the need for mobility and convenience, as well as the modern demand for the environmental friendliness of the city as a system are the main reasons for the change in the modern urban landscape.

Early Byzantine Fortification Buildings on the Eastern Side of the Plateau of Eski-Kermen

The eastern fortification complex of Eski-Kermen consists of a defensive wall between towers IV and VI, towers V and VI, the eastern entrance to the city, a fortress granary, and a siege well. The cave rooms of the towers are cut into 30–44-meter-high rocky promontories protruding from the eastern façade of the plateau. According to N. I. Repnikov, the Goths built the castle atop the plateau of Eski-Kermen in the late fifth century. A. A. Vasiliev, A. L. Yakobson, and M. A. Tikhanova considered that the Eski-Kermen defensive complex, along with other the fortifications of the limes Tauricus, was created in the sixth century to protect the land of Dory from nomads, according to the order of Justinian I. In E. V. Veimarn’s view, the castle appeared in the late fifth century in the course of development of feudal relations among the local Scythian and Sarmatian populations. In contrast to N. I. Repnikov’s and E. V. Veimarn’s interpretations, the fortifications considered in this article show nothing comparable to the Gothic or Taurian techniques of building. It is quite obvious that the castle on the plateau was designed and erected according to a project of an experienced Byzantine military engineer. The date of the construction of the castle is determined by a complex of ceramic ware uncovered in 2006–2007 by the excavations of the layer which developed when the eastern defensive wall had been erected. The construction of the wall and, therefore, the creation of the castle was simultaneous with the age of Emperor Maurice (582–602).

ДО ПРОБЛЕМИ АРХЕОЛОГІЧНО-АРХІТЕКТУРНИХ ДОСЛІДЖЕНЬ ФОРТИФІКАЦІЙ В РАЙОНІ ПЛОЩІ АДАМА МІЦКЕВИЧА У ЛЬВОВІ

The new hotel building appeared at 9 Mickiewicz Square in Lviv during 2022-2023. It was built on the site of an architectural monument from 1839 – the Hudets house. The author of the Hudetz house project was the Viennese architect Wilhelm Schmidt. The monument was dismantled despite the protests of the Lviv publicity and despite the decision of the Scientific and Methodological Council of the Ministry of Civil Engineering of Ukraine on the expediency for its restoration. In connection with the construction of the hotel, the plans of the city authorities for the construction of an underground parking lot for 40 cars appeared here. This initiative caused great discussions in the circle of preservationists and build specialists. The plot for the construction of the parking lot has a very complex hydrogeological structure, which significantly complicates the construction and can also negatively affect the entire historical environment of the square and the surrounding buildings. Another feature of the square is the presence of a number of archaeological sites. These are, first of all, the remains of two lines of fortifications - relics of the High Defense Wall of the XIII-XVI centuries (in the vicinity of the square there are the remains of the defensive Riznytska tower and the wall from it to the Bondarska tower) and the remains of the so-called of the "third" defensive belt of the city center (a defensive line erected in 1522-1542 in the form of large artillery basteyas and bastions; the bastions were connected to each other by a rampart with a wall). These two defensive lines had their own ditches filled with water. In the 17th-18th centuries, when the fortification function expired, houses of various purposes began to be added to the defensive walls. Their remains may also be present in the underground space of the square. The purpose of this publication is to show which objects of archaeological heritage are under the square, and to point out the value of these relics for the history of Lviv. The discovery and archaeological exposition of these monuments will make it impossible to build an underground parking lot here.

PECULIARITIES OF THE FORTIFICATION SYSTEM OF THE INCASTELLATED COMPLEX OF THE HOLY CROSS MONASTERY OF THE SKETE MANIAVSKY

For several centuries, the Maniavsky Skete played the role of a significant sacred, cultural, and defensive centre of the region. The first two factors have been studied quite thoroughly, but the third one has been neglected by scholars. Therefore, the study of the defence system of the sacred abode is quite relevant. Its study can help to reconstruct the appearance of the complex, the location and planning of the main structural elements, especially since the monastery is listed in the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine as an architectural monument of national importance under the number 239/0, as well as its individual buildings: the gate tower (No. 239/1), the treasury (No. 239/2), the defensive tower and walls (No. 239/3), and the refectory (No. 2394). The article is aimed at clarifying the structural units, historical architectural and functional type, typology by the method of fortification, location features (in the landscape environment, in the hydrographic environment, in the urban environment), as well as outlining the architectural and fortification features of the defensive monastery complex. Based on the results of the study of iconographic, cartographic sources and field surveys, the article examines the planning structure of defensive structures and fortifications and the fortification system of the encastled complex of the Holy Cross Monastery of Skete Maniavskyi, founded in the forest of the Carpathian foothills on the lands of the village of Maniava in the Galician district of the Galician land of the Ruthenian Voivodeship in the late Middle Ages as a monastery of Orthodox hermit monks.

АНАЛІЗ ДЖЕРЕЛ ТА ПРАЦЬ ПРИСВЯЧЕНИХ ІСТОРІЇ ОБОРОННИХ СПОРУД ЛЬВІВСЬКОГО СЕРЕДМІСТЯ

The problem of studies of the fortification development of the Lviv midtown has a long history. As early, Bartlomej Zimorowicz was the first author who covers the history of Lviv at the 17th century. In his work "Leopolis Triplex" he pays a lot of attention to fortifications and presents materials and facts about their construction. Other researchers later relied on his work, in particular, Yaroslaw Widawski, Janusz Witwicki, Wladyslav Tomkewicz and others. Denys Zubrytskyi also made a great contribution to uncovering unknown pages of the construction of Lviv fortifications. He was engaged in organizing the Lviv archives, and discovered and published a lot of information about the dates and features of the construction and modernization of fortification objects. The most complete works devoted to the defensive fortifications of the Lviv midtown are the publications of W. Tomkewicz and Ja. Witwicki. These authors conducted research in the interwar period, but their materials were published in the 1970s. It should be pointed out the important publications of various authors in the magazine "Halytska brama", several issues of which were devoted to the history of the fortifications of Lviv. In a synthesized form, the question of the construction of Lviv's defense structures and their reconstruction in different historical periods is revealed in a new work on the history of Lviv's architecture, published under the general editorship of Yuriy Biryulyov. In a somewhat shorter version, the stages of development of Lviv fortifications are revealed in the "Atlas of historical cities. Lviv". In our work, we aim to analyze the sources and literature that highlight the history of architecture only so-called High defensive wall of Lviv midtown. This was the first brick line of fortifications in the center of the city. It began to be built in the first years of the 14th century, and it was used for defensive purposes until the end of the 18th century. Based on the results of the analysis, we have identified 4 main stages of the architectural transformation of this defensive structure.

ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION AT THE STAROSTA CASTLE IN GALICIA

The article introduces the materials of the architectural and archaeological cross-section of the defensive ditch of the Starostyn castle of the 14th - 18th centuries in the town of Halych, Ivano-Frankivsk region. The stratigraphy of the exploration trench is described in detail. Among the discovered immovable objects are a rampart embankment, a two-row palisade, the remains of an internal paving, the foundations of the defensive walls of a log-frame wooden and earthen structure, a stone wall with a drainage hole. The chronology of the archaeological complexes is based on relatively narrowly dated movable artefacts: sleeved crossbow arrowheads of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; bowl- and pot-shaped tiles of the fifteenth century; fragments of household ceramics, box tiles, and Gothic block bricks of the sixteenth century. Architectural details, building ceramics, iron and glass products of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; as well as materials of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Finds from the princely period of the eleventh and first half of the fourteenth century and the early Iron Age of the sixteenth century BC were found in a redeposited state. The study of Starostynskyi Castle in the historical aspect makes it possible to identify seven specific construction periods of late medieval and early modern fortifications in the stratigraphic column. On the basis of the results of architectural and archaeological research, a number of hypothetical reconstructions of the development of wooden, earthwork and stone fortifications of the southern spine of Starostyn castle were made. The analysis of stratigraphic sections and the general urban situation prompts the author to put forward a hypothesis about the possible location of the entrance to the castle in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The archaeological reconnaissance crossing of the fortification line demonstrates a complex and still poorly understood history of the development of the Galician castle fortifications on the Dniester. It shows a promising prospect for both further thorough archaeological research and thoughtful preservation and use of the architectural and archaeological heritage of the unique complex in the future.

A Pious Belligerence: Dialogical Warfare and the Rhetoric of Righteousness in the Crusading Near East by Uri Zvi Shachar

Reviewed by: A Pious Belligerence: Dialogical Warfare and the Rhetoric of Righteousness in the Crusading Near East by Uri Zvi Shachar John Tolan A Pious Belligerence: Dialogical Warfare and the Rhetoric of Righteousness in the Crusading Near East. By Uri Zvi Shachar. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2021. Pp. x, 320. $65.00. ISBN: 9780812253337.) In the year 1211, according to various Hebrew sources, several hundred French-speaking Jews, mostly from France and England, landed in Acre, principal port of the kingdom of Jerusalem and de facto capital since Saladin captured the Holy City in 1187. They had come to live in the Holy Land; some of them settled in Jerusalem, although when the Ayyubid sultan al-Mu‘azzam dismantled the defensive walls of the city to prevent crusaders from taking and holding it, many of these Jews resettled in Acre. Various writers from this community of immigrants presented their aliya (return to the Holy Land) as what Uri Shachar calls a “Jewish Crusade.” The return to the Holy Land of these pious Jews would play a key role in purifying the world, and would herald the emergence of the Messiah, who (according to at least one source) would be a member of this European Jewish community in the Holy Land. The voyage itself was an act of piety and renunciation, which purified the immigrant Jews (in comparison with those who chose to remain in Europe to pursue base earthly interests). And these Jews would purify the Holy Land itself, sullied or “polluted” by the occupation of infidels, Christians, and Muslims. [End Page 186] Shachar carefully analyzes a rich and complex group of texts associated with these European Jews in the Holy Land. Some of these Jewish authors refashioned apocalyptic texts first composed five or six centuries before, complex and layered treatises that were continuously reworked by Hebrew authors who sought to inscribe their current hopes and tribulations into an apocalyptic scenario of the last days. They “stylize historical events into common apocalyptic structures” (pp. 140–1). One of the great strengths of Shachar’s work is that he does not limit himself to analyzing these Hebrew works from European Jewish immigrés, but places them in the broader political and cultural history of the thirteenth-century Near East, where conflicts between Frankish princes, Ayyubid sultans, and crusaders created a fragmented political landscape and continual military and political struggles. This forged an atmosphere propitious to apocalyptic speculation on the part of Christians and Muslims as well as Jews. In the wake of the death of Saladin in 1193, the territory he had dominated, stretching from the Jazira (in Iraq) to Egypt, was fragmented in a power struggle between the late sultan’s brother, sons, and nephews. Meanwhile, the Franks of the Levant (kings, princes, knights, and military orders) were often at odds with one another. Add to that the periodic arrival of crusaders from Europe who had their own agendas, which did not necessarily coincide with those of local Franks. This led to alliances between Muslim and Frankish principalities: as Shachar shows, numerous battles in the region over the course of the thirteenth century pitted one alliance of Muslims and Christians against another alliance of Muslims and Christians. Jacques de Vitry, bishop of Acre, arrived from Europe and was consternated at what he saw: Christians, Muslims, and Jews mixed together, speaking a Babel of languages. The eastern Christians had a confusing variety of rites, doctrines, and habits; he was at a loss to establish who was to be considered a true Christian and who a heretic. As Shachar shows, the new bishop was particularly critical of the “Poulains,” as he calls the Franks settled in the Holy Land: They had become corrupted and effeminate; they entered into alliances with infidel Muslims instead of combatting them. The new bishop pinned his hopes on forthright crusaders fresh from Europe, uncorrupted by contact with the Orient, though as he stayed on in the East after the failure of the Fifth Crusade, he tempered his criticism of the Poulains. It is impossible in a brief review to do justice to this rich study. Shachar presents subtle and nuanced analyses of historiographical and apocalyptic works...

In Roofs, Walls and Towers

This article deals with prehistoric stone objects called ‘thunderstones,’ which in the Middle Ages through modern times wereoften placed at the border points of houses and farm buildings (e.g., roofs, chimneys, walls, thresholds), as well as in town walls and other defence walls. It should be assumed that they were used as a magical means to protect areas considered to be controlled by humans (orbis interior) from threats posed by the outside world (orbis exterior). The clearly marked repetition of the same types of places in which these prehistoric stone objects were deposited (in areas places inhabited and used by humans) in many European regions indicates that this was a chronologically and territorially widespread phenomenon.

АРХІТЕКТУРА БУДІВЕЛЬ ЛЬВІВСЬКОЇ ПОЛІТЕХНІКИ У ПЕРШИЙ ПЕРІОД ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ ДО 1877 Р.: АДАПТАЦІЯ КАМ’ЯНИЦЬ ТА НОВІ ПРОЄКТИ У ЦЕНТРІ МІСТА

АРХІТЕКТУРА БУДІВЕЛЬ ЛЬВІВСЬКОЇ ПОЛІТЕХНІКИ У ПЕРШИЙ ПЕРІОД ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ ДО 1877 Р.: АДАПТАЦІЯ КАМ’ЯНИЦЬ ТА НОВІ ПРОЄКТИ У ЦЕНТРІ МІСТА

УКРАЇНСЬКІ УРБАНІСТИЧНІ ТРАДИЦІЇ: АКТУАЛЬНІСТЬ В УМОВАХ СУЧАСНИХ ВИКЛИКІВ

The article considers the importance of preserving the architectural environment's national identity in terms of its defense’s effectiveness in modern military operations. A brief overview of the traditional urban characteristics of Ukrainian cities, which in the past ensured their effective defense, was made: the way the buildings are located in the landscape, the planning structure, the height of the buildings, and the density of their location on the territory. The local landscape was actively involved in the architectural organization of the environment, which ultimately determined the unique plan structure for each city and the individual routing of the street network. If necessary, elements of the local landscape were supplemented with artificial systems and used for defense. A significant perimeter of cities with a predominance of traditional manor buildings created difficulties for the organization of the enemy encirclement. Internal fortifications around individual structural elements of the city contributed to long-term defense. To protect large areas, a system of tree-earth ramparts was artificially created. In the past, these measures helped to defend Ukrainian cities effectively. The events of the Russian-Ukrainian war, among other things, revealed that modern weapons, with all their capabilities, could not always overcome landscape obstacles, in particular, ancient defensive walls and swampy areas north of Kyiv; cities that preserved the traditional character of the architectural environment defended more effectively; flat regions of cities, compared to those located on rugged terrain, found themselves in a more threatening situation, etc. All these facts will obviously be subject to detailed analysis in the future. Still, it is already possible to conclude that the preservation of traditional identity in the conditions of a modern architectural environment is essential not only for the self-identification of residents or for the formation of the attractiveness of urban space but also for practical reasons of organizing the effective defense. After all, in the process of long-term formation of the architectural space’s traditional features, the defensive potential of the local landscape many times passed a practical test of its effectiveness by military operations in different historical periods.

A historical survey of Karofi abandoned settlement, Dutsen-Ma, Katsina State, Nigeria

This paper is an archaeological survey of Karofi abandoned settlement, which is located in the north-central area of Katsina State of Nigeria conducted from the 5th of January to 30th of March, 2018. Despite Karofi’s large amount of archaeological resources as the survey shows, the area receives little or no attention from researchers. Through ethnographic survey, an effort is made to examine fundamental features of the site with particular reference to the history of the early inhabitants of the area through the collection and analysis of both tangible and intangible remains using an archaeological survey of site. Among the finds identified in this survey are: house and granary foundations, collapsed defensive walls, grinding stones, dye pits, potsherds, remnants of iron slags, cave and rock shelters, among others. The paper suggests that when closely studied, Karofi abandoned settlement will yield great archaeological results.

Święty Józef patron Krakowa

Największe i najstarsze karmelitańskie sanktuarium św. Józefa zostało ufundowane w nieistniejącym kościele św. Michała Archanioła i św. Józefa, powstałym na Podzamczu w Krakowie. Klasztor został zbudowany w latach 1611- 1637. w obrębie murów obronnych miasta, za aprobatą biskupa Piotra Tylickiego i przy wsparciu dobroczyńców. W dniu 26 października 1636 roku biskup krakowski Jakub Zadzik, konsekrował kościół i ołtarz główny pod wezwaniem św. Michała Archanioła i św. Józefa oblubieńca Najświętszej j Matki Bożej.

Experimental study and finite element analysis of POZD and large-rupture-strain FRP for improving the protective performance of civil air defense wall

In order to reduce and prevent the damage of fragments generated by impact load to personnel, buildings and protective equipment, it is very important to improve its impact resistance and anti-collapsing ability. In this paper, the out-of-plane large-mass pendulum impact test and numerical analysis were carried out for the first time on the protective performance of the POZD new material and large-rupture-strain FRP in the civil air defense wall. The research results show that spraying POZD coating or pasting large-rupture-strain FRP on the civil air defense wall significantly reduces the damage degree of the wall. When the impact height of the pendulum is 0.4 m, the maximum displacement of the wall at mid-span was reduced by 40.5 %, the peak strain of the steel bar at the impact center is reduced by 79.2 %, and the residual strain of the concrete is reduced by up to 60 %, and the bending stiffness and deformation capacity of the walls were improved. The POZD coating can wrap concrete fragments, avoid large-scale collapse damage, and improve the wall's ability to sustainably resist impact loads. The double-sided sprayed POZD coating of the civil air defense wall has a significant effect on improving the impact resistance and preventing the splash of fragments. Even with the increase of pendulum impact height and number, the peak impact force decreases from 3110 kN for the first time to 2465 kN for the third time, which is only 20.7 % lower, it can resist the larger impact load out-of-plane. Under the action of strong dynamic load, the POZD coating can absorb the impact energy by taking advantage of its high tensile elongation at break, which has a good anti-collapsing effect and improves the overall airtightness of the structure. Finally, the failure modes and failure characteristics of the wall obtained through the experiments in this paper provide the failure evaluation criteria for the existing civil air defense walls.

Identification of genes controlling compatible and incompatible reactions of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) against blast (Magnaporthe grisea) pathogen through RNA-Seq.

Blast [Magnaporthe grisea (Herbert) Barr] is an economically important disease in Asian pearl millet production ecologies. The recurrent occurrence of blast in the past one decade has caused enormous strain on grain and forage production. Identification of resistance genes is an important step to develop durable varieties. The present study is the first attempt to use RNA-Seq to investigate the transcript dynamics in a pearl millet inbred ICMB 93333, which had a unique differential reaction to two isolates—Pg 45 (avirulent) and Pg 174 (virulent) of M. grisea. The inbred was inoculated by both isolates and samples taken at six different time intervals for genome-wide RNA-Seq experiment. The transcriptome results revealed the differential expression of more than 2,300 genes. The time-specific comparison showed activation or repression of specific genes in various pathways. Genes and transcriptions factors related to pathogenesis-related proteins, reactive oxygen species generating and its scavenging genes, cell wall defense, primary and secondary metabolic pathways, and signaling pathways were identified by comparing the host-plant compatible and incompatible interactions. The genes identified from this experiment could be useful to understand the host-plant resistance and design novel strategies to manage blast disease in pearl millet.

The Role of Reviving Ancient Walls in Collective Memory

The concepts of the wall and the city intertwined in many ancient civilizations. These walls are historical evidence of specific periods of time that the city passed through and reflect its collective memory that crosses with time. The walls had an actual presence in the lives of residents and builders and their memories. With the passage of time and technological acceleration, the pace of urbanization and development in cities accelerated, which led to the widespread destruction of the walls that reflect the identity of cities and their established image memory. This research aims to study the physical and symbolic revival of the remains of ancient walls and gates due to their importance in enhancing collective memory and identity. To this end, the remnants of the walls in restoring collective memory were studied and presented through global and local propositions through contemporary urban development strategies. The research assumes that the walls are important in conveying the history of the city, so the remains of the walls in the holy city of Najaf were taken as the living historical evidence that reflects the stories of the victories of our fathers and grandfathers over the invasions. Where the old city wall was the fortified wall that protected its people. The number of defensive walls was five, according to another narration, six, and each wall is a reflection of a specific time period and a specific story in the ancient history of the city. Therefore, the rest of these walls must be preserved because they constitute important scenes in the history of the holy city of Najaf, where a framework was used to provide recommendations to evoke the walls as landmarks and determinants influential in the city, this framework was done in the research in Table 1, which is a conceptual framework that was extracted from the previous literature. The results indicated the possibility of investing historical walls as effective drivers in building collective memory and restoring its unique urban identity through a set of mechanisms within the retrieving strategy represented by the virtual renewal of the walls using traces or signs, the work of virtual preservation, and digital documentation, physical renewal of the remains of the walls through literal cloning, deletion and addition, cultural (community) renewal due to the visit.

Genome-wide identification and characterization of active ingredients related β-Glucosidases in Dendrobium catenatum

BackgroundDendrobium catenatum/D. officinale (here after D. catenatum), a well-known economically important traditional medicinal herb, produces a variety of bioactive metabolites including polysaccharides, alkaloids, and flavonoids with excellent pharmacological and clinical values. Although many genes associated with the biosynthesis of medicinal components have been cloned and characterized, the biosynthetic pathway, especially the downstream and regulatory pathway of major medicinal components in the herb, is far from clear. β-glucosidases (BGLUs) comprise a diverse group of enzymes that widely exist in plants and play essential functions in cell wall modification, defense response, phytohormone signaling, secondary metabolism, herbivore resistance, and scent release by hydrolyzing β-D-glycosidic bond from a carbohydrate moiety. The recent release of the chromosome-level reference genome of D. catenatum enables the characterization of gene families. Although the genome-wide analysis of the BGLU gene family has been successfully conducted in various plants, no systematic analysis is available for the D. catenatum. We previously isolated DcBGLU2 in the BGLU family as a key regulator for polysaccharide biosynthesis in D. catenatum. Yet, the exact number of DcBGLUs in the D. catenatum genome and their possible roles in bioactive compound production deserve more attention.ResultsTo investigate the role of BGLUs in active metabolites production, 22 BGLUs (DcBGLU1-22) of the glycoside hydrolase family 1 (GH1) were identified from D. catenatum genome. Protein prediction showed that most of the DcBGLUs were acidic and phylogenetic analysis classified the family into four distinct clusters. The sequence alignments revealed several conserved motifs among the DcBGLU proteins and analyses of the putative signal peptides and N-glycosylation site revealed that the majority of DcBGLU members dually targeted to the vacuole and/or chloroplast. Organ-specific expression profiles and specific responses to MeJA and MF23 were also determined. Furthermore, four DcBGLUs were selected to test their involvement in metabolism regulation. Overexpression of DcBGLU2, 6, 8, and 13 significantly increased contents of flavonoid, reducing-polysaccharide, alkaloid and soluble-polysaccharide, respectively.ConclusionThe genome-wide systematic analysis identified candidate DcBGLU genes with possible roles in medicinal metabolites production and laid a theoretical foundation for further functional characterization and molecular breeding of D. catenatum.

A novel corrugated steel plate-rubberized concrete composite slab: Properties and application opportunities

An innovative type of corrugated steel plate-rubberized concrete (CSPRC) composite slab is presented in this paper. This kind of composite slab can be applied to projects with energy consumption requirements in bridge deck slabs in potential rockfall regions, protective structures, defensive walls, military structures, and so on. Four specimens were executed to push out the test. Six full-scale CSPRC composite slab specimens were fabricated, two of which were dynamically tested and four of which were statically tested. The experimental results show that rubberized concrete inhibited the development of concrete cracks and improved the ductility of the specimens compared to normal concrete. The shank length of the stud shear connectors had a significant influence on the shear resistance. For this structure, the stud spacing had a higher requirement of 8.5 d than that of conventional composite beams. The longitudinal shear bearing capacity was not affected by incorporating rubber in the composite slab, and the failure loads and behaviors were similar to those of normal concrete. Additionally, the damping ratio and kinetic energy were improved. Based on the experimental and partial shear connection (PSC) methods, the calculation formulas for longitudinal shear strength were further revised and compared with current codes and test results to properly estimate the longitudinal shear capacity of the CSPRC composite slab.

Genome-wide identification of the pectin methylesterase inhibitor genes in Brassica napus and expression analysis of selected members.

Pectin methylesterase inhibitors (PMEIs) modulate the status of pectin methylesterification by inhibiting the activity of pectin methylesterase (PME). Recent advances indicate PMEIs play an important role in regulating plant cell wall properties and defense responses. In this study, a genome-wide analysis of PMEI gene family in Brassica napus (B. napus) was conducted and the expression patterns of PMEI genes in response to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (S. sclerotiorum) was investigated. A total of 190 PMEI proteins were identified from the genome of B. napus. Chromosomal location, gene structure and properties of the PMEI family were analyzed, and these features were compared with Arabidopsis thaliana (A. thaliana). A total of 123 syntenic ortholog pairs were detected from BnPMEI family by synteny analysis. Results showed the expansion of BnPMEI genes was likely predominately from whole-genome duplication (WGD) or segmental duplications. Multiple cis-elements related to plant growth and development, environmental stress responses, hormone responses were detected in the promoters of BnPMEI genes, implying they were regulated by both internal and external factors. Furthermore, expression analysis of transcriptome data combined with quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) validation identified several candidates that were strongly responsive to S. sclerotiorum infection. These BnPMEI genes are candidates for manipulation to breed novel and improved genotypes that are more resistant to sclerotinia stem rot (SSR). Extensive interactions were detected among 30 BnPMEI proteins, forming complex protein-protein interaction networks. Besides, 48 BnPMEIs showed interactions with other proteins including a range of cell wall structure-related enzymes. This study provides new insights into the evolution and function of PMEIs in B. napus and lays a foundation for breeding novel genotypes for crop improvement.

THE “UZERLIKTAPA CULTURE” IN KARABAKH - AZERBAIJAN

İn the Middle Bronze period, primary city centers were formed in Azerbaijan – Karabakh, and progress was made in the economic sphere. This is a city whose wealth comes from the workers. This settlement is located in the MIL-Karabakh plain, east of the city of Agdam. The thickness of the cultural layer in this place of residence has reached 3 m. In the northern part, the remains of the defensive wall were discovered and the construction features were studied. In the north-western part of the excavation site, broken black-polished large bowl with wheat inside, lid, black-polished miniature plate fractures, grain stones, supports, 8 number of sickle teeth made of flint stone and a cudgel head were obtained. From the south side along the wall of the dwelling were obtained plastered floor remains, a hearth made of stone with burnt grain, a woman's statue of clay and broken clay objects. The materials of the upper layer of uzerliktapanon are large red-colored dishes, kitchen utensils, monochrome patterned dishes, barbecue and various stone models and smelters (weaving tool). Nakhchivan is considered the homeland of painted dishes in Azerbaijan. The acquisition of painted dishes in Karabakh gave researchers reason to say that there were economic and cultural relations between these two cultural centers.

Hurrian Architecture in the Light of Excavations Tell Basmusian Tell Al-Daim and Tell Asfour

Tell Basmosian, Tell Al-Daim, and Tell Asfour are among the locations in which the (Hurrians) people settled there and they had an architectural and economic imprint in it in the middle of the second millennium B.C. And because of the closeness of this location to the kingdom of (Arabkha) as well as the city of (Nuzi) which is affiliated with it and from the architectural remains that it was found in these locations, as it was revealed after studying it by specialists in the social, economic, religious and political life of these peoples. And for the lack of information about these people, we decided to study their architecture by selecting four samples that the study tackled، including the Basmosian Temples and architectural remains of resident houses in Al-Daim Tell and Defensive wall as well as some houses in Asfour Tell.