The radiocarbon (14C) calibration curve so far contains annually resolved data only for a short period of time. With accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) matching the precision of decay counting, it is now possible to efficiently produce large datasets of annual resolution for calibration purposes using small amounts of wood. The radiocarbon intercomparison on single-year tree-ring samples presented here is the first to investigate specifically possible offsets between AMS laboratories at high precision. The results show that AMS laboratories are capable of measuring samples of Holocene age with an accuracy and precision that is comparable or even goes beyond what is possible with decay counting, even though they require a thousand times less wood. It also shows that not all AMS laboratories always produce results that are consistent with their stated uncertainties. The long-term benefits of studies of this kind are more accurate radiocarbon measurements with, in the future, better quantified uncertainties.

Terrestrial plant macrofossils from the sedimentary record of Lake Suigetsu, Japan, provide the only quasi-continuous direct atmospheric record of radiocarbon (14C) covering the last 50 ka cal BP (Bronk Ramsey et al. 2012). Since then, new high precision data have become available on U-Th dated speleothems from Hulu Cave China, covering the same time range (Cheng et al. 2018). In addition, an updated varve-based chronology has also been published for the 2006 core from Lake Suigetsu (SG06) based on extended microscopic analysis of the sediments and improved algorithms for interpolation (Schlolaut et al. 2018). Here we reanalyze the radiocarbon dataset from Suigetsu based on the new varve counting information and the constraints imposed by the speleothem data. This enables the new information on the calendar age scale of the Suigetsu dataset to be used in the construction of the consensus IntCal calibration curve. Comparison of the speleothem and plant macrofossil records provides insight into the mechanisms underlying the incorporation of carbon into different types of record and the relative strengths of different types of archive for calibration purposes.

The discovery of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave signal has generated follow-up observations by over 50 facilities world-wide, ushering in the new era of multi-messenger astronomy. In this paper, we present follow-up observations of the gravitational wave event GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart SSS17a/DLT17ck (IAU label AT2017gfo) by 14 Australian telescopes and partner observatories as part of Australian-based and Australian-led research programs. We report early- to late-time multi-wavelength observations, including optical imaging and spectroscopy, mid-infrared imaging, radio imaging, and searches for fast radio bursts. Our optical spectra reveal that the transient source emission cooled from approximately 6 400 K to 2 100 K over a 7-d period and produced no significant optical emission lines. The spectral profiles, cooling rate, and photometric light curves are consistent with the expected outburst and subsequent processes of a binary neutron star merger. Star formation in the host galaxy probably ceased at least a Gyr ago, although there is evidence for a galaxy merger. Binary pulsars with short (100 Myr) decay times are therefore unlikely progenitors, but pulsars like PSR B1534+12 with its 2.7 Gyr coalescence time could produce such a merger. The displacement (~2.2 kpc) of the binary star system from the centre of the main galaxy is not unusual for stars in the host galaxy or stars originating in the merging galaxy, and therefore any constraints on the kick velocity imparted to the progenitor are poor.

Worldwide, dating rock art is difficult to achieve because of the frequent lack of datable material and the difficulty of removing contamination from samples. Our research aimed to select the paints that would be the most likely to be successfully radiocarbon dated and to estimate the quantity of paint needed depending on the nature of the paint and the weathering and alteration products associated with it. To achieve this aim, a two-step sampling strategy, coupled with a multi-instrument characterization (including SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy analysis) and a modified acid-base-acid (ABA) pretreatment, was created. In total, 41 samples were dated from 14 sites in three separate regions of southern Africa. These novel protocols ensure that the 14C chronology produced was robust and could also be subsequently applied to different regions with possible variations in paint preparation, geology, weathering conditions, and contaminants.

The IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon calibration curves have been revised utilizing newly available and updated data sets from 14C measurements on tree rings, plant macrofossils, speleothems, corals, and foraminifera. The calibration curves were derived from the data using the random walk model (RWM) used to generate IntCal09 and Marine09, which has been revised to account for additional uncertainties and error structures. The new curves were ratified at the 21st International Radiocarbon conference in July 2012 and are available as Supplemental Material at www.radiocarbon.org. The database can be accessed at http://intcal.qub.ac.uk/intcal13/.

The utilization of taphonomic information to formulate biostratinomic models for modern and ancient assemblages has become a potentially powerful tool in paleoecologic analysis. The division of fossil assemblages into discrete suites of taphonomically-similar material adds an extra dimension to the interpretation of depositional setting and paleoecologic structure (Brett and Baird, 1986; Speyer and Brett, 1986, 1988; Speyer, 1987). This approach uses the hypothesis that taphonomic alteration varies in a predictable way with depositional setting. In other words, each specific environment (e.g., low-salinity muddy bay, storm-dominated clastic shelf) is characterized by a unique suite of physical, chemical and biological processes: these processes imprint a unique and predictable “taphonomic signature” on the death assemblage.

This paper is concerned with the infinite geometric products

and their generalizations to higher dimensions. Some new expressions and identities are derived for these products by using stochastic theory. The function is tabulated for p = 0(0.01)1.

Suppose that a new hospital is to be planned or an existing one reorganized according to the modern Progressive Patient Care System (Hartley et al. (1968)). In this system, there are three types of wards, viz.

There are now many examples in various fields where the behaviour of ‘particles' as exhibited by their transition from one state to another is described by a multidimensional stochastic process. The linear migration model in which particles move independently of one another through a number of states has been dealt with by Bartlett (1949). This process has been used by Siegert (1949) in considering the approach to equilibrium of non-interacting gas molecules and by Krieger and Gans (1960) and Gans (1960) to examine the distribution of a multicomponent system disturbed from its equilibrium distribution and relaxing by first-order processes to another equilibrium. The correspondence between the deterministic model based on the principle of mass action and the stochastic model has been discussed by Darvey and Staff (1966) in the context of unimolecular multicomponent chemical reactions.