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Recent excavations and survey at the Roman and late antique city of Aeclanum provide important insights into developments across the fourth and fifth centuries CE at this site. Located in the inland region of Hirpinia, on the border of Apulia et Calabria and Campania, Aeclanum was insulated from some of the disasters that plagued the coastal regions in this period. It was, however, struck by two natural disasters: an earthquake in the mid-fourth century and the eruption of Vesuvius in 472 CE. Despite these events, new work suggests that the city remained a vital urban center even into the sixth century. In light of this new evidence, this article explores what the built remains, ceramics, and epigraphy reveal about the changing cityscape, economy, and society of Aeclanum. It further situates this evidence within its regional context to demonstrate how urban living was upheld, even in the face of significant environmental, religious, and administrative change. Our focus is on how human agency—of different forms—is manifest in the material evidence, and how this manifestation varies across available datasets and the networks between them. The availability of different datasets makes it a unique case study in this region and allows us to explore aspects of urban life in greater detail than is possible for many nearby cities. By using a pluralistic approach to material output, these examples reveal that, among some communities, circumstances and events long considered to be catastrophic to urban success were not as absolute as once thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines the progress made at the United Kingdom's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for nanomaterial research using three case studies. First, we examine the measurement of metal impurities in graphene as part of the development of international standards. Then, we assess the uranium uptake of graphene oxide (GO) to optimize functionalization of the material for decontamination of aqueous nuclear waste. Finally, we establish the uptake mechanism of different cell and nanoparticle (NP) types to optimize radiation dosimetry assessments. Further advancements made in ICP-MS analysis to characterize single-particles (SP-ICP-MS) are also discussed with recommendations for future work., The widespread use of nanomaterials has shown significant benefits in the areas of sensors, nuclear waste treatment, and nuclear medicine. This is evident because of the increasing number of publications [...]

Turf is not a material frequently associated with construction. However, as a cheap, easily available, and versatile material it was used in antiquity (and has been used in various contexts since) to form unit-based and mass walls, embankments, and ramparts. Some of the best-preserved evidence for historical turf use comes from the Roman period, when it was a mainstay of military construction, being widely used in forts (e.g. along the Rhine and in Britain) and large-scale linear earthworks, most notably thewalls of Hadrian (northern England) and Antoninus Pius (central Scotland). To our knowledge, turf has never been examined as a construction material; its interest has, until now, been restricted to the soil and agricultural sciences and sports engineering. This paper presents the first exploration of turf water retention properties, assessed to understand whether turf behaviour can be collated with that of more traditionalearthen materials, for example cob or rammed earth. Tensiometer and psychrometer methods were used to estimate the water retention curves of turf, representative of that used for construction, harvested from two sites near Crieff, Scotland. The obtained data were analysed in terms of unimodal type functions to understand qualities of the full range of the soil water retention curve for Scottish turf. This work supports a larger project examining how engineering materials principles can explain ancient construction practices. In so doing, we will be well positioned to reintroduce this low-carbon material to the modern construction market.

The rheology of air or moisture sensitive liquids, gels, and glasses requires complicated rheometer-in-glovebox laboratory setups. Here, we demonstrate the use of a heavier-than-air cover gas, sulfur hexafluoride, and the design of a cover gas container that can attach to the lower geometry plate of any rheometer to carry out rheology experiments on air-sensitive liquids and soft solids. Rheological measurements of air-reactive ionic liquid trimethylsulfonium bromide–AlCl3, moisture sensitive titanium(IV) propoxide, and glycerin demonstrate the effectiveness of the cover-gas method for loading samples on acquiring correct temperature dependent viscosity data of the sample in the absence of reaction products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Science Museum has in its East Hall one of the finest collections of steam engines anywhere. The collection has traditionally been interpreted in formal taxonomical terms. However, as the display scheme has become physically fragmented, and the museum's relationship with its visitors has been assessed in new ways, so new approaches to interpreting the collection have been sought. The primary and secondary source review underpinning development of a revised gallery scheme for the East Hall suggested the existence of an 'imaginarium of steam', a body of historic material illustrating how the steam engine exerted an imaginative hold on those who built, worked with, and observed it. The steam engine was as much a symbolic and imaginative machine as it was a tangible one. This is reflected in a rich range of sources, stretching far beyond the technical sources so traditionally and closely identified with the engine. This paper will outline some of these primary sources with particular reference to the museum's collection and other appropriate material culture, and attempt to identify some of their shared characteristics, which together form the imaginarium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The American Robot: A Cultural History" by Dustin A. Abnet is a thought-provoking book that explores the concept of the robot in American history. The book argues that there has been a persistent ideology among American elites to connect and conflate machines and humans, resulting in the transformation of humans into machines and machines into humans. The author examines the rise of automaton figures in the 18th and 19th centuries, the application of the word "robot" in early 20th-century America, and the robot's role in popular culture during the Cold War era. The book highlights the liminal and situated nature of robots, as well as their embodiment in various physical forms. While the book could have included more recent examples of robots, it effectively conveys how robots have been used as vessels for exploring the relationship between humans and machines throughout history. [Extracted from the article]

This update covers the literature published between approximately June 2022 and April 2023 and is the latest part of a series of annual reviews. It is designed to provide the reader with an overview of the current state of the art with respect to the atomic spectrometric analysis of various metals, chemicals and materials. Advances have been made in several areas. For cultural heritage scientists, it is worth noting that, after many years of inserting analytical data into chemometric tools in an attempt to elucidate provenance, several free to use algorithms that take an inexperienced analyst through the entire process have been developed. It is envisaged that such algorithms will also be developed for forensic samples. In other areas, there has been a big increase in papers reporting methods for analysing coals, with many of these applications employing LIBS. This increase is presumably a result of the use of coal increasing rapidly in some countries. The use of LIBS for analyses is still growing in many areas. For ferrous and non-ferrous metals, the development of more reliable calibration strategies for LIBs has been a common theme. The standoff ability of LIBS has also been put to good use in the nuclear industry and for the detection of explosives. Waste management of assorted materials, e.g. polymers, metals, etc. has also used LIBS analyses, often used in conjunction with chemometric data analysis tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate, low-level measurement of the long-lived fission product 129I is important for waste characterisation and long-term monitoring of waste facilities and the surrounding environment. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is well-suited to high throughput, sensitive measurement of 129I as a cost-effective alternative to other mass spectrometric and decay counting techniques. Accurate 129I measurement by ICP-MS is affected by the multiple interferences on m/z = 129, necessitating multi-stage sample preparation and/or mathematical correction. This study assesses the capabilities of tandem ICP-MS/MS for rapid and routine measurement of 129I in nuclear wastes. The advantages of the tandem setup for removal of isobaric, polyatomic and tailing interferences are demonstrated, as are the improvements in sensitivity through matrix modification and the importance of selecting an appropriate internal standard. The optimised setup was applied to measurement of various decommissioning waste simulants following direct extraction of 129I. The procedure achieved an instrument detection limit of 1.05 × 10−4 Bq g−1 (0.017 ng g−1) for 129I, which is two orders of magnitude below the target out-of-scope limit of 0.01 Bq g−1 (1.57 ng g−1), with good agreement between ICP-MS/MS and liquid scintillation counting (LSC). The results show that rapid, routine, low-level measurement of 129I is achievable by ICP-MS/MS for end users in decommissioning and environmental monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear metrology is an essential aspect to consider for further improvements of the initial characterization of sites under decommissioning. The H2020 Euratom project INSIDER in June 2017 aims at improving the management of contaminated materials arising from decommissioning and dismantling (D&D) operations by proposing an integrated methodology for radiological characterization. This methodology is based on advanced statistical processing and modelling, coupled with adapted or innovative measurement methods. A metrological approach supports the qualification of this integrated methodology with a concrete application to real projects representative of the use cases identified in the project. Assessment of the outcomes will be used for providing recommendations and guidance resulting in pre-standardization texts.