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The prevailing view regarding the evolution of medicine is that the emergence of settled agricultural societies around 10,000 years ago (the Neolithic Revolution) gave rise to a host of health problems that had previously been unknown among non-sedentary foraging populations, stimulating the first major innovations in prehistoric medical practices1,2. Such changes included the development of more advanced surgical procedures, with the oldest known indication of an ‘operation’ formerly thought to have consisted of the skeletal remains of a European Neolithic farmer (found in Buthiers-Boulancourt, France) whose left forearm had been surgically removed and then partially healed3. Dating to around 7,000 years ago, this accepted case of amputation would have required comprehensive knowledge of human anatomy and considerable technical skill, and has thus been viewed as the earliest evidence of a complex medical act3. Here, however, we report the discovery of skeletal remains of a young individual from Borneo who had the distal third of their left lower leg surgically amputated, probably as a child, at least 31,000 years ago. The individual survived the procedure and lived for another 6–9 years, before their remains were intentionally buried in Liang Tebo cave, which is located in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, in a limestone karst area that contains some of the world’s earliest dated rock art4. This unexpectedly early evidence of a successful limb amputation suggests that at least some modern human foraging groups in tropical Asia had developed sophisticated medical knowledge and skills long before the Neolithic farming transition.

Designing cost-effective methods for implementing measurement, monitoring and verification (MM&V) plans for subsea CO2 storage is an active area of research globally. Despite some preliminary research and examples overseas, there remains a lack of established protocols and configurations for offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) monitoring overlying storage sites and an absence of methods to establish environmental impact in the event of leakage. Over the last 4 years, CSIRO in collaboration with ANLEC R&D and CarbonNet have been undertaking research in the Gippsland region to inform the development of assurance monitoring approaches for subsea CCS operations to address three key technical assurance monitoring challenges: The ‘signal-to-noise’ problem: distinguishing CO2 release signatures from similar naturally occurring variability to reduce false alarm rates in future baseline monitoring design; characterising impact: determining the level of CO2 release that would be associated with environmental impact at a range of scales; and attributing impact: distinguishing changes resulting from other drivers and pressures in multiple-use zones (e.g. climate change) from the activities of CCS operations. The research has included a wide variety of approaches and technologies including the development and testing of fixed and mobile autonomous monitoring systems, chemical and acoustic sensing and the collection of biological datasets. These data have been used in the development of biogeochemical models and to define possible integrated MM&V frameworks. This paper will summarise this research and identify how it could be applied for offshore CO2 storage projects around Australia.

Continuous flow injection is a key technology for serial crystallography measurements of protein crystals suspended in the lipidic cubic phase (LCP). To date, there has been little discussion in the literature regarding the impact of the injection process itself on the structure of the lipidic phase. This is despite the fact that the phase of the injection matrix is critical for the flow properties of the stream and potentially for sample stability. Here we report small-angle X-ray scattering measurements of a monoolein:water mixture during continuous delivery using a high viscosity injector. We observe both an alignment and modification of the LCP as a direct result of the injection process. The orientation of the cubic lattice with respect to the beam was estimated based on the anisotropy of the diffraction pattern and does not correspond to a single low order zone axis. The solvent fraction was also observed to impact the stability of the cubic phase during injection. In addition, depending on the distance traveled by the lipid after exiting the needle, the phase is observed to transition from a pure diamond phase (Pn3m) to a mixture containing both gyriod (Ia3d) and lamellar (L

Comprehensive information on the characteristics of surgical heart valves (SHVs) is essential for optimal valve selection. Such information is also important in assessing SHV function after valve replacement. Despite the existing regulatory framework for SHV sizing and labelling, this information is challenging to obtain in a uniform manner for various SHVs. To ensure that clinicians are adequately informed, the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS), The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) and American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) set up a Task Force comprised of cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, engineers, regulatory bodies, representatives of the International Organization for Standardization and major valve manufacturers. Previously, the EACTS–STS–AATS Valve Labelling Task Force identified the most important problems around SHV sizing and labelling. This Expert Consensus Document formulates recommendations for providing SHV physical dimensions, intended implant position and hemodynamic performance in a transparent, uniform manner. Furthermore, the Task Force advocates for the introduction and use of a standardized chart to assess the probability of prosthesis–patient mismatch and calls valve manufacturers to provide essential information required for SHV choice on standardized Valve Charts, uniformly for all SHV models.

Let $S$ be a smooth projective surface over $\mathbb{C}$. We study the local and global geometry of the nested Hilbert scheme of points $S^{[n,n+1,n+2]}$. In particular, we show that $S^{[n,n+1,n+2]}$ is an irreducible local complete intersection with klt singularities. In addition, we compute the Picard group of $S^{[n,n+1,n+2]}$ when $h^1(S,\mathcal{O}_S) = 0$. From the irreducibility of $S^{[n,n+1,n+2]}$, we deduce irreducibility for four other infinite families of nested Hilbert schemes. We give the first explicit example of a reducible nested Hilbert scheme, which allows us to show that $S^{[n_1,\dots,n_k]}$ is reducible for $k > 22$., 20 pages, comments welcome

We study the geometry of the smooth projective surfaces that are defined by Frobenius forms, a class of homogenous polynomials in prime characteristic recently shown to have minimal possible F-pure threshold among forms of the same degree. We call these surfaces $\textit{extremal surfaces}$, and show that their geometry is reminiscent of the geometry of smooth cubic surfaces, especially non-Frobenius split cubic surfaces of characteristic two, which are examples of extremal surfaces. For example, we show that an extremal surface $X$ contains $d^2(d^2-3d+3)$ lines where $d$ is the degree, which is notable since the number of lines on a complex surface is bounded above by a quadratic function in $d$. Whenever two of those lines meet, they determine a $d$-tangent plane to $X$ which consists of a union of $d$ lines meeting in one point; we count the precise number of such "star points" on $X$, showing that it is quintic in the degree, which recovers the fact that there are exactly 45 Eckardt points on an extremal cubic surface. Finally, we generalize the classical notion of a double six for cubic surfaces to a double $2d$ on an extremal surface of degree $d$. We show that, asymptotically in $d$, smooth extremal surfaces have at least $\frac{1}{16}d^{14}$ double $2d$'s. A key element of the proofs is using the large automorphism group of extremal surfaces which we show acts transitively on many sets, such as the set of (triples of skew) lines on the extremal surface. Extremal surfaces are closely related to finite Hermitian geometries, which we recover as the $\mathbb F_{q^2}$-rational points of special extremal surfaces defined by Hermitian forms over $\mathbb F_{q^2}$.

Building codes are an important component of a community's strategy for achieving resilience. They have proven to be highly cost-effective, delivering cost-benefit ratios of up to $11 for every dollar invested. This chapter introduces codes through history and how they are currently developed, adopted, and enforced. It addresses challenges to their effectiveness including assuring the adequacy of resources provided to departments charged with their enforcement. Existing buildings present unique challenges for communities, and codes are available to assist communities in bringing the existing building stock to higher levels of performance without stifling economic development. Emerging code-related issues including immediate occupancy codes or functional recovery standards are also identified.

Objective In this study we evaluate the usefulness of the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) in predicting which older patients are at risk of developing serious toxicities during radiotherapy. Materials and Methods This prospective study was carried out over an 18 month period. Our primary aim was to examine the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) as a predictor of toxicity in patients over 70 years undergoing radical radiotherapy for any malignant diagnosis. Results 63 patients were recruited: 29% experienced grade 3 or greater toxicities, with very few having multiple grade 3 or greater toxicities. The majority of patients experienced multiple grade 1 or 2 toxicities. Patients were often admitted: either electively due to geographical reasons, or due to toxicities. All patients completed their courses of radiotherapy. All grade 3 or 4 toxicities occurred within five radiotherapy sites; upper GI, gynaecological, lung, prostate and head & neck. There was no statistical correlation between EFS score and the presence of grade 3 or 4 toxicities. Conclusion This study showed that neither EFS score, age nor ECOG performance status were predictive of radiotherapy toxicity, breaks in treatment or hospital admissions. Patients with oesophageal cancer, gynaecological cancers and lung cancer had a high rate of toxicity and hospital admission, which may highlight the need for additional patient support in these groups. Whilst comprehensive geriatric assessment is recommended, further research is needed to conclude if the frail elderly patient is at greater risk of toxicities from radiotherapy, and which geriatric assessment tool may be the most helpful.

While motion pictures have traditionally been captured and presented at a frame rate of 24 frames/s, recent advancements have enabled the capture and presentation at higher frame rates of 48, 60, and even 120 frames/s. Capture and presentation at higher frame rates provide improvements in clarity and motion rendition but come at the cost of increased storage space, processing, and workload for the entire motion picture. Motion picture creators want the capability to reduce the motion judder and blur associated with capturing moving images while still maintaining the cinematic feel of their creations. By introducing a method where the projector can vary the frame rate during playback, the scenes that most benefit from higher frame rates can be captured and presented at that rate, while the scenes that do not benefit from higher frame rates can be captured and presented at lower frame rates. The engineers working with DLP Cinema at Texas Instruments have come up with a method to allow changes to the displayed frame rate to be communicated effectively through the entire playback chain during a presentation with no visible artifacts on screen before, during, or after the transition. This variable frame rate capability enabled by the latest DLP Cinema systems is further described in this paper.

Ovine leather has around half the tear strength of bovine leather and is therefore not suitable for high-value applications such as shoes. Tear strength has been correlated with the natural collagen fibril alignment (orientation index, OI). It is hypothesized that it could be possible to artificially increase the OI of the collagen fibrils and that an artificial increase in OI could increase tear strength.Ovine skins, after pickling and bating, were strained biaxially during chrome tanning. The strain ranged from 2 to 15% of the initial sample length, either uniformly in both directions by 10% or with 3% in one direction and 15% in the other. Once tanned, the leather tear strengths were measured and the collagen fibril orientation was measured using synchrotron-based small-angle X-ray scattering.The OI increased as a result of strain during tanning from 0.48 to 0.79 (P = 0.001) measured edge-on and the thickness-normalized tear strength increased from 27 to 43 N mm

Two improvements were made to the Sensor-Utility-Network method of occupancy estimation found in the literature, which casts the occupancy estimation/prediction problem as a convex program with an objective function based on various data sources that contribute to occupancy information. The improvements were the inclusion of a scheduling term in the objective function and a mechanism for updating the historical data automatically. The schedule term weighted the difference between projected estimates and scheduled occupancy based on zone usage such that zones with stricter adherence to schedules have more influence. The historical data were updated through an exponentially weighted average of estimates at the same time on past similar days. The estimates for a given time on a given day were calculated as weighted averages of all estimates for that time, including estimates from past and future times on that day. After implementing the SUN algorithm in Matlab, it was tested using data from an agent-based occupancy model. The improvements were added and resulted in a one third decrease in estimation error.