Standardisation of magnetic nanoparticles in liquid suspension

Suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles offer diverse opportunities for technology innovation, spanning a large number of industry sectors from imaging and actuation based applications in biomedicine and biotechnology, through large-scale environmental remediation uses such as water purification, to engineering-based applications such as position-controlled lubricants and soaps. Continuous advances in their manufacture have produced an ever-growing range of products, each with their own unique properties. At the same time, the characterisation of magnetic nanoparticles is often complex, and expert knowledge is needed to correctly interpret the measurement data. In many cases, the stringent requirements of the end-user technologies dictate that magnetic nanoparticle products should be clearly defined, well characterised, consistent and safe; or to put it another way—standardised. The aims of this document are to outline the concepts and terminology necessary for discussion of magnetic nanoparticles, to examine the current state-of-the-art in characterisation methods necessary for the most prominent applications of magnetic nanoparticle suspensions, to suggest a possible structure for the future development of standardisation within the field, and to identify areas and topics which deserve to be the focus of future work items. We discuss potential roadmaps for the future standardisation of this developing industry, and the likely challenges to be encountered along the way

Late Holocene human diets in the lowlands of West New Guinea: the isotopic evidence

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Balai Arkeologi Papua (Papua Centre of Archaeology) archaeological program has undertaken fieldwork and multidisciplinary analyses to explore human behaviour during the Holocene in West New Guinea—a somewhat neglected part of the world. Despite the fact that humans made it to the tropical forests of New Guinea 45,000 years ago, and the island is also home to some of the earliest experiments in tropical cultivation, relatively little is known about how human diet and subsistence changed from the Pleistocene and into the Holocene in different parts of the island. Stable isotope analysis has emerged as a powerful tool for exploring dietary reliance on different aspects of tropical landscapes in the Pacific region, from dense tropical forests to coastal foodstuffs. Here, we present interim radiocarbon results from five archaeological sites in the lowland region of Papua and Papua Barat Province, Indonesia, as well as preliminary stable isotope data from human tooth enamel and bones from these same localities. We discuss the implications of our data for exploring trends in human diets and economies in this part of the tropics and highlight areas for future work.Dalam kurun waktu 10 tahun terakhir, Balai Arkeologi Papua yang sekarang tergabung dalam Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN) telah melakukan penelitian arkeologi di beberapa tempat di wilayah Papua. Berbagai pendekatan multidisipliner telah diterapkan untuk mengeksplorasi perilaku manusia selama masa Holosen di wilayah ini. Terlepas dari kenyataan bahwa Homo sapiens telah berhasil mencapai wilayah tropis Papua sejak 45.000 tahun yang lalu, pengetahuan mengenai pola makan serta adaptasi manusia dari masa Pleistosen hingga masa Holosen sangat terbatas diketahui di pulau ini. Analisis Isotope stabil telah berkembang dalam beberapa tahun ini dimana metode ini sangat pesat digunakan terutama untuk mengeksplorasi pola makanan serta tingkah laku manusia dalam suatu lingkungan mulai dari lingkungan laut, air tawar hingga hutan hujan tropis. Dalam bab ini, hasil awal/sementara radiokarbon yang telah didapatkan dari lima situs arkeologi di wilayah dataran rendah Papua beserta dengan hasil analisis isotop stabil berupa kolagen dan enamel apatite terhadap tulang pada lima situsarkeologi diuraikan. Pola diet manusia pada kelima situs tersebut dipaparkan berdasarkan hasil isotop stabil serta menekankan area-area yang kiranya perlu diteliti di masa yang akan datang

Dental metric on the late Holocene to current era population from the lowland part of Indonesian-Papua

In an attempt to understand human history in this world, the researchers have applied several methods to identify the group of populations based on the teeth trait characteristic. However, the lack of knowledge about human diversity from several regions in this world derived from the osteological study from archaeological context has limited the understanding of human history in many societies including the populations that occupied the lowland part of Indonesian-Papua. For this, the aim of this study is to reconstruct the population history by employing the dental metric measurement on the 304 samples from the archaeological sites in the lowland parts of Indonesian- Papua which are classified into two differentgroups, Late Holocene and Current Era. The multivariate statistics analysis was applied to compare the results from the Lowland Indonesian- Papua samples with 17 groups of the population included in this study.The results from the statistics measurement were further used to reconstruct and visualize the phylogenic tree by employing The Neighbor-Joining method and UPGMA algorithm. The result from this clusteringgroup presents the data about East Asian affinities for the Late Holocene and Australo Melanesian for the Current Era group.Dalam upaya untuk memahami sejarah asal usul manusia di dunia ini, beberapa metode telah diterapkan oleh peneliti selama ini untuk mengidentifikasi kelompok populasi termasuk analisis ciri-ciri gigi manusia. Terbatasnya data tentang keanekaragaman manusia yang didasarkan pada studi osteologi dalam konteks arkeologi dari beberapa belahan dunia termasuk populasi yang mendiami dataran rendah Papua-Indonesia telah membatasi pengetahuan tentang sejarah asal usul serta penyebaran manusia. Berdasarkan hal tersebut, adapun tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk merekonstruksi sejarah populasi dengan menggunakan 304 metrik gigi manusia yang ditemukan di situs arkeologi di dataran rendah Papua. Berdasarkan kronologinya, situs arkeologi tersebut diklasifikasikan menjadi dua bagian yaitu masa Holosen akhir dan Era Saat ini. Penggunaan analisis statistik diterapkan untuk membandingkan hasil penghitungan sample dataran rendah Papua dengan 17 kelompok populasi yang termasuk dalam penelitian ini. Hasil dari pengukuran statistik ini selanjutnya digunakan untuk merekonstruksi dan memvisualisasikan pohon filogenik dengan menggunakan Neihbor-Joining dan algoritma UPGMA. Hasil dari pengelompokan ini menyajikan data tentang kedekatan Asia Timur untuk kelompok Holosen Akhir dan Australo Melanesian untuk kelompok populasi Era Saat ini.1. Introduction 2. Materials and Method 2.1 Materials The Archaeological Site 2.1.1 Mamorikotey 2.1.2 Yomokho 2.1.3 Karas 2.1.4 Srobu 2.1.5 Namatota 2.1.6 Kayu batu 2.1.7 Biak-Sowek 2.2 Methods 2.2.1 Metric Traits Measurements 2.2.2 Statistical Analysis 3. Result and Discussion 3.1 Result 3.2 Discussion 4. Conclusio

A history of violence in the Mesolithic female skeleton from Mezzocorona-Borgonuovo (Trento, northeastern Italy)

Scholars have long been interested in understanding conflict in prehistoric times. Skeletal lesions attributable to interpersonal violence constitute the most direct evidence available to make inferences on the diachronic changes in the frequency, scale, and motivation for conflict among human communities. It has been proposed that evidence of violence becomes more common among Early Holocene Mesolithic hunter-gatherers; however, the skeletal record becomes increasingly fragmentary in more ancient periods, making the finding of new evidence of great importance. We present here a case of traumatic recidivism in a Mesolithic female from the site of Mezzocorona-Borgonuovo (MBN-1) in the northeastern Italian Alps (Trento). This female displays a perimortem perforating defect in the frontal bone, as well as healed cranial and forearm fractures. Although it is possible to interpret these injuries as resulting from falls from height, we propose that they are most compatible with MBN-1 being victim over time of multiple episodes of interpersonal violence. In addition, probably a few months before death, MBN-1 suffered another traumatic injury of the ankle, and in this case the fall from height appears the most likely scenario. We further propose that the attacks leading to the cranial and forearm fractures were presumably perpetrated by individuals coming from outside MBN-1's group. Conversely, her group most likely cared for her through medical treatment – as suggested by the successful healing of forearm and ankle fractures – and by according her a formal burial. The traumatic history of MBN-1 provides rare glimpses into the life experience of a Mesolithic female from northeastern Italy, a context where human remains are extremely rare. However, being a single case, more findings are needed to understand whether or not MBN-1 can be viewed as emblematic of the overall exposure to interpersonal or accidental trauma for Mesolithic groups in the area, and to explore issues of frequency, origin, and motivation for ancient conflict

Palaeogenomics of upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers

Posth, C., Yu, H., Ghalichi, A., Rougier, H., Crevecoeur, I., Huang, Y., Ringbauer, H., Rohrlach, A.B., Nägele, K., Villalba-Mouco, V., Radzeviciute, R., Ferraz, T., Stoessel, A., Tukhbatova, R., Drucker, D.G., Lari, M., Modi, A., Vai, S., Saupe, T., Scheib, C.L., Catalano, G., Pagani, L., Talamo, S., Fewlass, H., Klaric, L., Morala, A., Rué, M., Madelaine, S., Crépin, L., Caverne, J.-B., Bocaege, E., Ricci, S., Boschin, F., Bayle, P., Maureille, B., Le Brun-Ricalens, F., Bordes, J.-G., Oxilia, G., Bortolini, E., Bignon-Lau, O., Debout, G., Orliac, M., Zazzo, A., Sparacello, V., Starnini, E., Sineo, L., van der Plicht, J., Pecqueur, L., Merceron, G., Garcia, G., Leuvrey, J.-M., Garcia, C.B., Gómez-Olivencia, A., Połtowicz-Bobak, M., Bobak, D., Le Luyer, M., Storm, P., Hoffmann, C., Kabaciński, J., Filimonova, T., Shnaider, S., Berezina, N., González-Rabanal, B., González Morales, M.R., Marín-Arroyo, A.B., López, B., Alonso-Llamazares, C., Ronchitelli, A., Polet, C., Jadin, I., Cauwe, N., Soler, J., Coromina, N., Rufí, I., Cottiaux, R., Clark, G., Straus, L.G., Julien, M.-A., Renhart, S., Talaa, D., Benazzi, S., Romandini, M., Amkreutz, L., Bocherens, H., Wißing, C., Villotte, S., de Pablo, J.F.-L., Gómez-Puche, M., Esquembre-Bebia, M.A., Bodu, P., Smits, L., Souffi, B., Jankauskas, R., Kozakaitė, J., Cupillard, C., Benthien, H., Wehrberger, K., Schmitz, R.W., Feine, S.C., Schüler, T., Thevenet, C., Grigorescu, D., Lüth, F., Kotula, A., Piezonka, H., Schopper, F., Svoboda, J., Sázelová, S., Chizhevsky, A., Khokhlov, A., Conard, N.J., Valentin, F., Harvati, K., Semal, P., Jungklaus, B., Suvorov, A., Schulting, R., Moiseyev, V., Mannermaa, K., Buzhilova, A., Terberger, T., Caramelli, D., Altena, E., Haak, W., Krause, J

Standardisation of magnetic nanoparticles in liquid suspension

Suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles offer diverse opportunities for technology innovation, spanning a large number of industry sectors from imaging and actuation based applications in biomedicine and biotechnology, through large-scale environmental remediation uses such as water purification, to engineering-based applications such as position-controlled lubricants and soaps. Continuous advances in their manufacture have produced an ever-growing range of products, each with their own unique properties. At the same time, the characterisation of magnetic nanoparticles is often complex, and expert knowledge is needed to correctly interpret the measurement data. In many cases, the stringent requirements of the end-user technologies dictate that magnetic nanoparticle products should be clearly defined, well characterised, consistent and safe; or to put it another way—standardised. The aims of this document are to outline the concepts and terminology necessary for discussion of magnetic nanoparticles, to examine the current state-of-the-art in characterisation methods necessary for the most prominent applications of magnetic nanoparticle suspensions, to suggest a possible structure for the future development of standardisation within the field, and to identify areas and topics which deserve to be the focus of future work items. We discuss potential roadmaps for the future standardisation of this developing industry, and the likely challenges to be encountered along the way

Genome-wide autosomal, mtDNA, and Y chromosome analysis of King Bela III of the Hungarian Arpad dynasty

The ancient Hungarians, “Madzsars”, established their control of the Carpathian Basin in the late ninth century and founded the Hungarian Kingdom around 1000AD. The origin of the Magyars as a tribal federation has been much debated in the past. From the time of the conquest to the early fourteenth century they were ruled by descendants of the Arpad family. In order to learn more about the genetic origin of this family, we here analyzed the genome of Bela III one of the most prominent members of the early Hungarian dynasty that ruled the Hungarian Kingdom from 1172 to 1196. The Y-Chromosome of Bela III belongs to haplogroup R1a-Z2123 that is today found in highest frequency in Central Asia, supporting a Central Asian origin for the ruling lineage of the Hungarian kingdom. The autosomal DNA profile of Bela III, however, falls within the genetic variation of present-day east European populations. This is further supported through his mtDNA genome that belongs to haplogroup H, the most common European maternal lineage, but also found in Central Asia. However, we didn’t find an exact haplotype match for Bela III. The typical autosomal and maternal Central Eastern European ancestry among Bela III autosomes might be best explained by consecutive intermarriage with local European ruling families

Genomic portrait and relatedness patterns of the Iron Age Log Coffin culture in northwestern Thailand

The Iron Age of highland Pang Mapha, northwestern Thailand, is characterised by a mortuary practice known as Log Coffin culture. Dating between 2300 and 1000 years ago, large coffins carved from individual teak trees have been discovered in over 40 caves and rock shelters. While previous studies focussed on the cultural development of the Log Coffin-associated sites, the origins of the practice, connections with other wooden coffin-using groups in Southeast Asia, and social structure within the region remain understudied. Here, we present genome-wide data from 33 individuals from five Log Coffin culture sites to study genetic ancestry profiles and genetic interconnectedness. The Log Coffin-associated genomes can be modelled as an admixture between Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherer-, Yangtze River farmer-, and Yellow River farmer-related ancestry. This indicates different influence spheres from Bronze and Iron Age individuals from northeastern Thailand as reflected by cultural practices. Our analyses also identify close genetic relationships within the sites and more distant connections between sites in the same and different river valleys. In combination with high mitochondrial haplogroup diversity and genome-wide homogeneity, the Log Coffin-associated groups from northwestern Thailand seem to have been a large, well-connected community, where genetic relatedness played a significant role in the mortuary ritual