Aerostatic

The branch of statistics that deals with gases in Equilibrium and with gases and bodies in them

Aeronautics

Concerned with all activities of serial locomotion 

Aerodynamics

Dynamics of gases, particularly the study of forces acting upon bodies in motion in the air.

Acrobatics

The art of performing Gymnastics

Acoustics

The study of sound and sound waves.

3D printing to guide human face transplants

To achieve cosmetically better results out of complicated face transplantation surgeries, researchers are using computed tomography (CT) and 3-D printing technology to recreate life size models of patients' heads.

"This is a complex surgery and its success is dependent on surgical planning," said Frank Rybicki from Brigham and Women's Hospital in the US.

"Our study demonstrated that if you use this model and hold the skull in your hand, there is no better way to plan the procedure," Rybicki added.

"The 3-D printed model helps us to prepare the facial structures so when the actual transplantation occurs, the surgery goes more smoothly," said Amir Imanzadeh, research fellow from the Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Physicians at the Brigham and Women's Hospital performed the first full face transplantation in the US in 2011 and have subsequently completed four additional face transplants.

The procedure is performed on patients who have lost some or all of their face as a result of injury or disease.

In the study, the researchers assessed the clinical impact of using 3-D printed models of the recipient's head in the planning of face transplantation surgery.

Each of the transplant recipients underwent pre-operative CT with 3-D visualisation.

To build each life size skull model, the CT images of the transplant recipient's head were segmented and processed using customised software, creating specialised data files that were fed into a 3-D printer.

"The 3-D model is important for making the transplant cosmetically appealing," Rybicki said.

The researchers said they also used the models in the operating room to increase the surgeons' understanding of the anatomy of the recipient's face during the procedure.

The study was presented at the ongoing annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.

1,232 killed in Iraq violence in November: UN

A total of 1,232 Iraqis were killed and 2,434 injured in terrorist attacks and violence across Iraq in November, according to a statement issued Monday by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

The statement said that 936 civilians, including 61 policemen, and 296 Iraqi security forces personnel were killed, while 1,826 others, including 71 policemen, were wounded. An additional 608 security members were wounded in terrorist and violent acts during the month.

The UNAMI excluded the casualties in Anbar province where fierce clashes flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti-government protest site outside Ramadi in late December last year, Xinhua reported citing the statement, adding that it has received some figures of casualties from the provincial health department, but "in some cases, UNAMI could only partially verify certain incidents".

The statement added that "UNAMI has also received, without being able to verify, reports of large numbers of casualties along with unknown numbers of persons who died due to lack of water, food, medicines and healthcare after they fled their homes”.

"With nearly 12,000 people killed and nearly 22,000 injured since the beginning of 2014, Iraqis continue to be subjected daily to the unspeakable horrors of killing, maiming, reign of terror, displacement, extreme forms of intolerance and poverty," the statement quoted UN envoy and UNAMI chief Nickolay Mladenov as saying.

"I take this opportunity to continue encouraging the Iraqi political, religious and social leaders to act decisively to rise above their differences in order to resolve the pending political, social and economic problems, and restore confidence among Iraq's communities, more particularly those disaffected groups, as part of consolidating the democratic process," Mladenov said.

The security situation in the country has deteriorated drastically since June, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and militants of the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group.

The militants took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.