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In this article we describe an online database about human evolution, called the ROCEEH Out of Africa Database (ROAD), and discuss our experience in aggregating Palaeolithic data from ROAD in the ARIADNE data processing pipeline. As of April 2023, ROAD contains more than 2400 localities in Africa and Eurasia dating between three million and 20,000 years ago. The database is transdisciplinary by nature and includes cultural artefacts, human and animal fossils, and plant remains. These finds are stored in a relational database, which is part of a structured, web-based, geographic information system. The process of preparing ROAD data for integration with ARIADNE taught us lessons about our own dataset, which we share here.

The archaeological record is one piece of the puzzle in understanding the evolution of humans, helping to trace the cultural connections between different species and their technologies, as well as their expansion in time and space. Here we demonstrate a method for mapping the boundaries, centers, and peripheries of ancient cultures, as well as the technological similarities between different cultures. The proposed workflow includes: a systematic collection of archaeological information in a database; a process to infer the similarities between assemblages and generate a network; and finally, a graphical method for big data visualization, a technique also used in social media analysis. We present the geography of multiple cultural complexes that span several stages of cultural evolution from the Lower to the Upper Paleolithic (Stone Age) and involve several species of the genus Homo. Finally, we discuss some alternative trajectories in which this workflow can be developed further.

Future climate projections indicate an expansion of the world’s drylands, and with that a commensurate increase in the mobilization of unconsolidated desert sediments such as sand and dust. It is therefore increasingly important to investigate the large-scale formation of dryland landscapes such as dunefields in order to better understand the processes responsible for their genesis, evolution, and thresholds for mobilization. Assessing dunefield morphologic variability, including analysis of the morphologic relationship between aeolian bedforms and other landforms such as fluvial channels and bedrock uplands, underpins such investigations. So far, however, meaningful investigations of erg-scale geomorphic patterns have been limited. This is in part due to the technological limitations of geographic information system (GIS) tools, particularly in the case of open-source datasets and software, which has effectively hindered investigations by colleagues in drylands of the global south where many of the world’s dunefields are located. Recent years have overseen the increasing availability of open-source remote sensing datasets, as well as the development of freely available software which can undertake geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA). These new tools facilitate cartography and statistical analysis of dunefields at large scales. In this study we make use of open-source GIS to characterise a morphologically diverse linear dunefield southwest of Kati Thanda (Lake Eyre) in central Australia. We focus on three parameters; dune orientation, spacing and Y-junctions using semi-automated GEOBIA, and investigate these in the context of local fluvial channels, depressions (pans) and uplands. Our results suggest a possible correlation between dune orientation, wind regime and the role of uplands as deflective barriers to longitudinal dune migration; dune spacing and sediment supply, likely relating to the location of both ephemeral and abandoned fluvial channels; and Y-junction frequency with underlying topography. Our study provides a framework for understanding process-based interactions between dunes and other landforms, as well as the first completely open-source approach which can be applied to linear dunefields worldwide.

This work describes a measurement method for assessing dose-related image-quality of CT scans based on the difference detail curve (DDC) method, and showcases its use in a low contrast setting. The method is based on a phantom consisting of elliptical slices of different sizes into which contrast object modules can be inserted. These modules contain contrast objects based on (synthetic) resin mixtures with sucrose (native) or sodium iodine (contrast medium). Mixing ratios are provided to achieve a range of clinically relevant CT-numbers with these materials. The phantom is characterized in terms of contrast accuracy, energy dependency and long-term drift with satisfying results. Contrast accuracy and energy dependency are similar to that of water or soft tissue. Image quality of 655 scans of the phantom acquired at 30 different clinical institutions and with 16 different CT scanner models from 4 manufacturers was assessed by calculating a difference detail curve (DDC) from evaluation of up to 5 human observers using a custom-made software (RadiVates) described in this work. Based on these measurements, inter-observer variability was quantified using a bootstrap method and was shown to be a large contributor to the overall variability. This work demonstrates that assessment of CT image quality is feasible with the aforementioned phantom and DDC method.

Abstract The time period between 560 and 360 ka (MIS14 to MIS11) was critical for the evolution of the Neanderthal lineage and the appearance of Levallois technology in Europe. The shifts in the distribution of the human populations, driven by cyclical climate changes, are generally accepted to have played major roles in both processes. We used a dataset of palaeoclimate maps and a species distribution model to reconstruct the changes in the area of Western Europe with suitable environmental conditions for humans during 11 time intervals of the MIS14 to MIS 11 period. Eventually, the maximum sustainable human population within the suitable area during each time interval was estimated by extrapolating the relationship observed between recent hunter-gatherer population density and net primary productivity and applying it to the past. Contrary to common assumptions, our results showed the three Mediterranean Peninsulas were not the only region suitable for humans during the glacial periods. The estimated total sustainable population of Western Europe from MIS14 to MIS11 oscillated between 13,000 and 25,000 individuals. These results offer a new theoretical scenario to develop models and hypotheses to explain cultural and biological evolution during the Middle Pleistocene in Western Europe.

Background: Single elements of the Closed Loop Medication Management process (CLMM), including electronic prescribing, involvement of clinical pharmacists (CPs), patient individual logistics and digital administration/documentation, have shown to improve medication safety and patient health outcomes. The impact of the complete CLMM on patient safety, as reflected in pharmacists’ interventions (PIs), is largely unknown.Aim: To evaluate the extent and characterization of routine PIs performed by hospital-wide CPs at a university hospital with an implemented CLMM.Methods: This single-center study included all interventions documented by CPs on five self-chosen working days within 1 month using the validated online-database DokuPIK (Documentation of Pharmacists’ Interventions in the Hospital). Based on different workflows, two groups of CPs were compared. One group operated as a part of the CLMM, the “Closed Loop Clinical Pharmacists” (CL-CPs), while the other group worked less dependent of the CLMM, the “Process Detached Clinical Pharmacists” (PD-CPs). The professional experience and the number of medication reviews were entered in an online survey. Combined pseudonymized datasets were analyzed descriptively after anonymization.Results: A total of 1,329 PIs were documented by nine CPs. Overall CPs intervened in every fifth medication review. The acceptance rate of PIs was 91.9%. The most common reasons were the categories “drugs” (e.g., indication, choice of formulation/drug and documentation/transcription) with 42.7%, followed by “dose” with 29.6%. One-quarter of PIs referred to the therapeutic subgroup “J01 antibacterials for systemic use.” Of the 1,329 underlying PIs, 1,295 were classified as medication errors (MEs) and their vast majority (81.5%) was rated as “error, no harm” (NCC MERP categories B-D). Among PIs performed by CL-CPs (n = 1,125), the highest proportion of errors was categorized as B (56.5%), while in the group of PIs from PD-CPs (n = 170) errors categorized as C (68.2%) dominated (p < 0.001).Conclusion: Our study shows that a structured CLMM enables CPs to perform a high number of medication reviews while detecting and solving MEs at an early stage before they can cause harm to the patient. Based on key quality indicators for medication safety, the complete CLMM provides a suitable framework for the efficient medication management of inpatients.

The use of marine resources and the settlement of coastal settlements may have influenced the bio-cultural evolution and dispersal of Pleistocene Homo sapiens in Africa. In order to test such scenarios, however, we require evidence for these behaviours deriving from an expanded spatio-temporal archaeological record. The Stone Age of South Africa documents the richest and longest record of coastal adaptations. In contrast to abundant evidence of coastal sites on the western and southern seaboard, the eastern Indian Ocean coast has not played a role in recent discussions. Considering the important and well-known Middle and Later Stone Age (MSA/LSA) record from inland sites of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), this region may be an underappreciated area for further study. Here we provide a systematic overview of marine resource use and the settlement of coastal landscapes during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in KZN. For the first time, we contextualize these archaeological findings with a review and new data on the changing marine and coastal geomorphology in the context of GIS modelling and offshore marine geophysical investigations. Our review finds evidence for long-term dietary and non-dietary use of marine resources during the MSA and LSA from a few stratified sites, with many more surface occurrences particularly for the MSA along the modern KZN coastline indicating human habitation. Comparisons to other areas of South Africa, GIS modelling and geological considerations suggest that current data on the eastern seaboard are not reflective of the original extent and nature of the consumption of marine foods and settlement of coastal landscapes. By contextualizing the biased and patchy MSA and LSA record with results on the dynamic marine and coastal geomorphology of KZN, we develop productive lines of future studies to assess open questions on potential coastal adaptations in this region. These research strategies include the identification of areas with high potential for finding new sites within a 10 km transect along the current coastline as well as dedicated off-shore projects including underwater archaeology aided by new marine geological work in the southwest Indian Ocean.

We present a 1:50 000 scale geomorphological map of the upper Mkhomazi River basin, located in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The sub-horizontal strata of the Permo-Triassic Beaufort Group forms plateau interfluves with a concave valley slope morphology. Locally, thick sequences of late Pleistocene colluvial deposits and associated buried paleosols (Masotcheni Formation) infill first-order tributary stream valleys and extend across the adjacent lower slopes. Surface runoff processes preferentially incise into the poorly consolidated, highly erodible sediments causing severe gully erosion that is responsible for widespread land degradation and desertification phenomena. The main purpose of this work is to derive a geomorphological map of the study area focussing on the erosional landforms to understand their spatial distribution and their relation to the colluvial deposits. Finally, a local and regional stratigraphic correlation of colluvial deposits and associated buried palaeosol profiles is proposed.

Glaciers in the European Alps are strongly affected by global warming, yet there is no methodologically consistent alpine-wide analysis on glacier changes. Here the authors show significant glacier retreat and an ice mass loss of 1.3 ± 0.2 Gt a−1, derived from contemporaneous measurements of glacier areas and elevations.

Climate change has led to a significant shrinkage of glaciers in the Tropical Andes during the last decades. Recent multi-temporal quantifications of ice mass loss at mountain range to regional scale are missing. However, this is fundamental information for future water resource planning and glacier change projections. In this study, we measure temporally consistent glacier area changes and geodetic mass balances throughout the Bolivian Cordillera Real and Tres Cruces based on multi-sensor remote-sensing data. By analyzing multi-spectral satellite images and interferometric SAR data, a glacier recession of 81 ± 18 km2 (29%; 5.1 ± 1.1 km2 a−1), a geodetic mass balance of −403 ± 78 kg m−2 a−1 and a total ice mass loss of 1.8 ± 0.5 Gt is derived for 2000–2016. In the period 2013–2016, ice mass loss was 21% above the average rate. A retreat rate of 15 ± 5 km2 a−1 and a mass budget of −487 ± 349 kg m−2 a−1 are found in this more recent period. These higher change rates can be attributed to the strong El Niño event in 2015/16. The analyses of individual glacier changes and topographic variables confirmed the dependency of the mass budget and glacier recession on glacier aspect and median elevation.

El punto de partida de este trabajo se basa en la interrelación que existe entre los diferentes elementos políticos y jurídicos que sustentan la gobernanza comercial global, entendiendo que está vinculada al derecho ambiental y al derecho tributario. Estas áreas están ligadas cada una con el comercio internacional y, a la misma vez, están interconectadas a través del comercio internacional. Nuestro objetivo consiste en determinar los diálogos que emergen de dichas relaciones.

Analysis of a recent surge of Morsnevbreen, Svalbard, is used to test predictions of the enthalpy balance theory of surging. High-resolution time series of velocities, ice thickness and crevasse distribution allow key elements of the enthalpy (internal energy) budget to be quantified for different stages of the surge cycle. During quiescence (1936–1990), velocities were very low, and geothermal heat slowly built-up enthalpy at the bed. Measurable mass transfer and frictional heating began in 1990–2010, then positive frictional heating-velocity feedbacks caused gradual acceleration from 2010 to 2015. Rapid acceleration occurred in summer 2016, when extensive crevassing and positive air temperatures allowed significant surface to bed drainage. The surge front reached the terminus in October 2016, coincident with a drop in velocities. Ice plumes in the fjord are interpreted as discharge of large volumes of supercooled water from the bed. Surge termination was prolonged, however, indicating persistence of an inefficient drainage system. The observations closely match predictions of the theory, particularly build-up of enthalpy from geothermal and frictional heat, and surface meltwater, and the concomitant changes in ice-surface elevation and velocity. Additional characteristics of the surge reflect spatial processes not represented in the model, but can be explained with respect to enthalpy gradients.

The landscape of the surroundings of the Melka Kunture prehistoric site, Upper Awash Basin, Ethiopia, were studied intensively in the last decades. Nonetheless, the area was mainly characterized under a stratigraphic/geological and archaeological point of view. However, a detailed geomorphological map is still lacking. Hence, in this study, we identify, map and visualize geomorphological forms and processes. The morphology of the forms, as well as the related processes, were remotely sensed with available high-resolution airborne and satellite sources and calibrated and validated through extensive field work conducted in 2013 and 2014. Furthermore, we integrated multispectral satellite imagery to classify areas affected by intensive erosion processes and/or anthropic activities. The Main Map at 1:15,000 scale reveals structural landforms as well as intensive water-related degradation processes in the Upper Awash Basin. Moreover, the map is available as an interactive WebGIS application providing further information and detail (www.roceeh.net/ethiopia_geomorphological_map/).

The text intends to investigate and clarify the salient aspects and limits of a possible and barely deepened relationship of proximity between H. Plessner and C. Schmitt regarding the interpretation and use of the friend/enemy dichotomy. One of the goals is to show that, although in his text of 1931 Political Anthropology Plessner tries to ground political anthropology by explicitly referring to the friend/enemy dichotomy as it was formulated by Schmitt, he develops this dualism in the light of the opposition between “familiar” and “foreign.” This development leads Plessner, beyond Schmitt’s aims, to the problematization of intersubjectivity and the possibility of “Euro-excentrism.”

Quantum cooperativity is evident in light-matter platforms where quantum-emitter ensembles are interfaced with confined optical modes and are coupled via the ubiquitous electromagnetic quantum vacuum. Cooperative effects can find applications, among other areas, in topological quantum optics, in quantum metrology, or in quantum information. This tutorial provides a set of theoretical tools to tackle the behavior responsible for the onset of cooperativity by extending open quantum system dynamics methods, such as the master equation and quantum Langevin equations, to electron-photon interactions in strongly coupled and correlated quantum-emitter ensembles. The methods are illustrated on a wide range of current research topics such as the design of nanoscale coherent-light sources, highly reflective quantum metasurfaces, or low intracavity power superradiant lasers.

Although the glaciers in the Antarctic periphery currently modestly contribute to sea level rise, their contribution is projected to increase substantially until the end of the 21st century. The South Shetland Islands (SSI), located to the north of the Antarctic Peninsula, are lacking a geodetic mass balance calculation for the entire archipelago. We estimated its geodetic mass balance over a 3–4-year period within 2013–2017. Our estimation is based on remotely sensed multispectral and interferometric SAR data covering 96% of the glacierized areas of the islands considered in our study and 73% of the total glacierized area of the SSI archipelago (Elephant, Clarence, and Smith Islands were excluded due to data limitations). Our results show a close to balance, slightly negative average specific mass balance for the whole area of −0.106 ± 0.007 m w.e. a−1, representing a mass change of −238 ± 12 Mt a−1. These results are consistent with a wider scale geodetic mass balance estimation and with glaciological mass balance measurements at SSI locations for the same study period. They are also consistent with the cooling trend observed in the region between 1998 and the mid-2010s.

Studying long-range interactions in the controlled environment of trapped ultracold gases can help our understanding of fundamental many-body physics. Here the authors excite a gas of Rydberg atoms with a ps laser pulse, demonstrating behaviour consistent with many-body correlations beyond mean-field.

We investigate the role of time delay in cold-damping optomechanics with multiple mechanical resonances. For instantaneous electronic response, it was recently shown by C. Sommer and C. Genes [Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 203605 (2019)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.123.203605] that a single feedback loop is sufficient to simultaneously remove thermal noise from many mechanical modes. While the intrinsic delayed response of the electronics can induce single-mode and mutual heating between adjacent modes, we propose to counteract such detrimental effects by introducing an additional time delay to the feedback loop. For lossy cavities and broadband feedback, we derive analytical results for the final occupancies of the mechanical modes within the formalism of quantum Langevin equations. For modes that are frequency degenerate collective effects dominate, mimicking behavior similar to Dicke super- and subradiance. These analytical results, corroborated with numerical simulations of both transient and steady state dynamics, allow us to find suitable conditions and strategies for efficient single-mode or multimode feedback optomechanics.

Insertion of reporter cassettes into the Lgr5 locus has enabled the characterization of mouse intestinal stem cells (ISCs). However, low cell surface abundance of LGR5 protein and lack of high-affinity anti-LGR5 antibodies represent a roadblock to efficiently isolate human colonic stem cells (hCoSCs). We set out to identify stem cell markers that would allow for purification of hCoSCs. In an unbiased approach, membrane-enriched protein fractions derived from in vitro human colonic organoids were analyzed by quantitative mass spectrometry. Protein tyrosine pseudokinase PTK7 specified a cell population within human colonic organoids characterized by highest self-renewal and re-seeding capacity. Antibodies recognizing the extracellular domain of PTK7 allowed us to isolate and expand hCoSCs directly from patient-derived mucosa samples. Human PTK7+ cells display features of canonical Lgr5+ ISCs and include a fraction of cells that undergo differentiation toward enteroendocrine lineage that resemble crypt label retaining cells (LRCs).