The antecedents of old Babylonian place notation and the early history of Babylonian mathematics

AbstractThis article is devoted to the elucidation of a little known phenomenon which profoundly affected the development of ancient mathematics, in spite of the fact that we are now unable to document those effects in detail. I try to show that Babylonian place notation, far from being a creation of the Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000-1600 BC), actually has roots deep in the third millenium and was, in fact, invented before the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2112-2004 BC). In the latter part of the paper, I try to demonstrate that, contrary to prevailing opinion, the origins of Babylonian mathematics can now be traced back to the middle of the third millennium BC. In doing so, I wish to call to the attention of historians of mathematics the importance of the Sumero-Akkadian background to Babylonian mathematics and to underscore the importance for historical research of the basic principle that nature and her children make no leaps

Design and Implementation of a Facility for Discovering New Scintillator Materials

We describe the design and operation of a high-throughput facility for synthesizing thousands of inorganic crystalline samples per year and evaluating them as potential scintillation detector materials. This facility includes a robotic dispenser, arrays of automated furnaces, a dual-beam X-ray generator for diffractometery and luminescence spectroscopy, a pulsed X-ray generator for time response measurements, computer-controlled sample changers, an optical spectrometer, and a network-accessible database management system that captures all synthesis and measurement data

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): From basic to advanced approaches

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), through their complex cargo, can reflect the state of their cell of origin and change the functions and phenotypes of other cells. These features indicate strong biomarker and therapeutic potential and have generated broad interest, as evidenced by the steady year-on-year increase in the numbers of scientific publications about EVs. Important advances have been made in EV metrology and in understanding and applying EV biology. However, hurdles remain to realising the potential of EVs in domains ranging from basic biology to clinical applications due to challenges in EV nomenclature, separation from non-vesicular extracellular particles, characterisation and functional studies. To address the challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving field, the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) updates its 'Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles', which was first published in 2014 and then in 2018 as MISEV2014 and MISEV2018, respectively. The goal of the current document, MISEV2023, is to provide researchers with an updated snapshot of available approaches and their advantages and limitations for production, separation and characterisation of EVs from multiple sources, including cell culture, body fluids and solid tissues. In addition to presenting the latest state of the art in basic principles of EV research, this document also covers advanced techniques and approaches that are currently expanding the boundaries of the field. MISEV2023 also includes new sections on EV release and uptake and a brief discussion of in vivo approaches to study EVs. Compiling feedback from ISEV expert task forces and more than 1000 researchers, this document conveys the current state of EV research to facilitate robust scientific discoveries and move the field forward even more rapidly

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Early-Dynastic tables from Southern Mesopotamia, or the multiple facets of the quantification of surfaces

How were surfaces evaluated before the invention of the sexagesimal place value notation in Mesopotamia? This chapter examines a group of five tablets containing tables for surfaces of squares and rectangles dated to the Early Dynastic period (ca. 2600-2350 BCE) and unearthed in southern Mesopotamia. In order to capture the methods used by ancient scribes to quantify surfaces, special attention is paid to the layout and organization of the tables, as well as to the way in which measurement values are written down. It is argued that these methods vary according to the dimensions of the squares or rectangles concerned: the quantification of small surfaces does not use the same mathematical tools as the quantification of large parcels of land. The chapter shows a reciprocal influence between the metrological systems adopted by the ancient scribes and the methods of calculation of surface they implemented. Some methods may reflect ancient land-surveying practices, and others may testify the emergence of new mathematical concepts applied to all kinds of surfaces, large or small. Ultimately, several different conceptualizations of the notion of surface emerge from the examination of these tables

WiFi publics: producing community and technology

Drawing on community expertise, open-source software and non-hierarchical organizational strategies, community wireless networks (CWN) engage volunteers in building networks for public internet access and community media. Volunteers intend these networks to be used to reinvigorate local community. Together the following two purposes create two distinct mediated publics: to engage volunteers in discussing and undertaking technical innovations, and to provide internet access and local community media to urban citizens. To better address the potential of CWN as a form of local innovation and democratic rationalization, the relationship between the two publics must be better understood. Using a case study of a Canadian CWN, this article advances the category of 'public' as alternative and complementary to 'community' as it is used to describe the social and technical structures of these projects. By addressing the tensions between the geek-public of WiFi developers, and the community-public of local people using community WiFi networks, this article revisits questions about the democratic impact of community networking projects. The article concludes that CWN projects create new potential for local community engagement, but that they also have a tendency to reinforce geek-publics more than community-publics, challenging the assumption that community networks using technology development as a vector for social action necessarily promote greater democracy

Mineralogy and petrology of the Apollo 11 lunar sample

Mineralogy and petrology of Apollo 11 lunar sampl