Latest Articles

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  Section: Archaeology ; Topics: Archaeology, Engineering, Computer sciences ; Conference: CAA2025

  Crossing software boundaries: From iDig and ODK to QField for archaeological field documentation

  Sgouropoulos, Kyriakos;   Chrysafakoglou, Periklis;   Ladenis, Ilias

  10.24072/pcjournal.712 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e40

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  The rapid development of technology and its integration into archaeological practices have greatly benefited archaeologists. Despite the many advantages of using technological tools, archaeologists face a major risk related to their limitations and technological dependence on specific software platforms. This article presents two case studies in which archaeological teams transitioned to open-source software that natively supports GIS technologies, replacing previously closed or limited digital frameworks. The first case concerns the transition from the iDig recording system to the QField ecosystem for excavation documentation. The second case presents a similar technological transition where QField replaced an ODK-based data collection framework in the context of surface survey. Each case includes a comparison of the software solutions used, focusing on their features and performance in archaeological workflows. The purpose of the article is to highlight that the long-term improvement of performance in archaeological field documentation is not tied to any single software, but depends mainly on the team’s ability to transition and adapt to new digital environments. Archaeological teams can benefit far more from embracing openness, interoperability, and long-term sustainability through the use of open-source software.

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  Section: Neuroscience ; Topics: Neuroscience, Psychological and cognitive sciences, Physiology

  MLIB: an easy-to-use Matlab toolbox for the analysis of extracellular spike data

  Stüttgen, Maik C.  

  10.24072/pcjournal.713 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e39

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  The analysis of neurophysiological data obtained from extracellular recordings is usually performed using a number of standard techniques. These include a) the extraction of action potentials from voltage traces and their subsequent classification, i.e., spike sorting, b) the visualization of activity, e.g., by constructing raster plots, peri-stimulus time histograms (PSTHs), and spike density functions, and c) the quantification of neuronal responses according to experimental variables such as stimulation or movement. Here I present a Matlab toolbox containing functions for the visualization and analysis of neuronal spike data. The toolbox consists entirely of one-liners that operate on vector or matrix inputs, i.e., spike and event timestamps or waveform samples. The toolbox functions provide both basic (constructing PSTHs, computing waveform characteristics etc.) and more advanced functionality, such as dimensionality reduction of multi-neuron recordings. While offering a high degree of versatility, the toolbox should also be accessible to newcomers to neurophysiology, such as (under)graduate students or PhD students. The functions are streamlined, easy to use, and each function is extensively introduced with several examples using real or simulated data. In addition, many functions provide fully formatted plots on request, even with minimal Matlab knowledge.

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  Section: Archaeology ; Topics: Archaeology

  Replication report for Marwick (2025) “Is archaeology a science?”, including new data from OpenAlex

  Queffelec, Alain  

  10.24072/pcjournal.710 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e38

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  This document is a reproduction and replication of the first part of Ben Marwick’s paper published in Journal of Archaeological Science, which analyzes the hard/soft position of archaeology and the evolution through time by the proxy of bibliometric data (Marwick, 2025). I confirm the complete computational reproducibility of Marwick (2025) while also pointing to a few problems in the manuscript. As for the replication of the study, while Marwick’s article is based on the analysis of the Web of Science data of archaeological journals and articles, I use the data from OpenAlex, a free and open-source database using more diverse sources. The analysis of the data from OpenAlex confirms the trends visible in the replicated study for the position of the trends of publication in archaeological journals, for its evolution through time, and for the classification of different journals. Some differences are still visible, mainly since OpenAlex data is less influenced by recent trends in the publication process due to its more balanced data for the second half of the 20th century. This study also emphasizes that using the free and open source OpenAlex database is suitable for this kind of scientometric study instead of commercial databases, but that OpenAlex could still be improved, especially in terms of quality of some metadata and cited references.

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  Section: Ecology ; Topics: Ecology, Environmental sciences, Biology of interactions

  Seasonal variation in insect assemblages at flowers of Balanites aegyptiaca, an ecologically and socially important tree species in the Ferlo region of Senegal’s Great Green Wall corridor

  Medina-Serrano, Natalia;   Bagnères, Anne-Geneviève;   Ndiaye, Mouhamadou Moustapha;   Vrecko, Valentin;   McKey, Doyle;   Hossaert-McKey, Martine  

  10.24072/pcjournal.709 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e37

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  Interactions between flowers and flower-visiting insects play central roles in ecosystem functioning. In addition to ensuring pollination, flower-visiting insects are also crucial for numerous other biotic interactions, using floral resources as fuel in their search for prey, hosts, breeding sites, and other resources. Studying insect-flower interactions may thus be strategic to conserve and restore biotic interactions in ecosystems heavily degraded by intensive land use and climate change, such as the arid savannas of the northern Sahel. We aimed to document for the first time the diversity of flower-visiting insects in this region and to examine whether restoration efforts of the Great Green Wall initiative have affected insect abundance and diversity.  Using two capture methods, hand netting and pan traps, we inventoried insects visiting the flowers of Balanites aegyptiaca. This is the most abundant tree species in the region and is also of economic importance. We sampled three sites in a single locality: a “Restored” site from which livestock are excluded, an ”Unrestored” site in intensively grazed rangeland, and a topographical “Depression” site in a grazed area but with high tree density. Each site was sampled at three different periods to examine variation in this extremely harsh and seasonal environment. The open-access flowers of  Balanites aegyptiaca are produced in multiple flowering events each year. We found a surprisingly high diversity of insects visiting its flowers, comprising 371 morphospecies from 10 insect orders, with a predominance of Hymenoptera and Diptera. Insect abundance, diversity, and species composition differed markedly between seasons. Bees appear to be important pollinators, particularly solitary bees of the family Halictidae, which were abundant in all seasons. Diptera, in particular several families of small flies, were also frequent visitors and were especially abundant and diverse in the wet season. Ants were especially abundant at flowers in the dry season, when few resources other than flowers and flower-visiting insects were likely available to them. Insect abundance and observed diversity differed only little between sites, but estimated total diversity (Chao1 richness) was highest in the Depression site. Insects visiting flowers of B. aegyptiaca included herbivores, decomposers, and parasitoids and predators of diverse arthropods, underlining the role of these floral resources in numerous facets of ecosystem functioning. The floral resources of B. aegyptiaca and other trees, which can flower throughout the year, are likely critical to ensure the persistence of numerous insect species. Integrating biotic interactions into ecosystem management is crucial for conservation and restoration in Sahelian ecosystems.