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1,960,583 | Reflecting its role as a core clock protein, deletion of the "frq" gene results in arrhythmicity, and in "Neurospora", the only function of FRQ is in the circadian clock. The "frq" gene can be activated from two distinct cis-acting sequences in its promoter, a distal site, the clock-box, used in the context of circadian regulation, and a site close to the principal transcription start site that is used for light-induced expression (the proximal light-regulatory element or PLRE). These "frq" transcripts both have capacity to encode two FRQ proteins, a long form of 989 amino acids (lFRQ) and a short form of 890 amino acids (sFRQ); both lFRQ and sFRQ are required for strong rhythmicity although the clock is able to persist at certain temperatures, albeit with a weaker rhythmicity, with just one of the proteins present. The choice of which protein is made is the result of temperature-dependent splicing of the primary transcript such that it includes or excludes the ATG start codon for lFRQ. The two forms of FRQ provide the "Neurospora" clock a greater range of temperatures over which it can operate optimally. An increase in temperature leads to increased expression of lFRQ, while sFRQ is unaffected. Warmer temperatures induce more efficient splicing of an intron in the translation start site. Because sFRQ favors a longer period than lFRQ, free running rhythms in wild type "Neurospora" are somewhat decreased with increased temperature. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39055192 | 1,959,456 |
1,458,679 | The mechanism of the SBTS is similar to the Tn5 transposon system, however the enzyme and gene sequences are eukaryotic in nature as opposed to prokaryotic. The system's tranposase can act in "trans" as well as in "cis", allowing a diverse collection of transposon structures. The transposon itself is flanked by inverted repeat sequences, which are each repeated twice in a direct fashion, designated IR/DR sequences. The internal region consists of the gene or sequence to be transposed, and could also contain the transposase gene. Alternatively, the transposase can be encoded on a separate plasmid or injected in its protein form. Yet another approach is to incorporate both the transposon and the transposase genes into a viral vector, which can target a cell or tissue of choice. The transposase protein is extremely specific in the sequences that it binds, and is able to discern its IR/DR sequences from a similar sequence by three base pairs. Once the enzyme is bound to both ends of the transposon, the IR/DR sequences are brought together and held by the transposase in a Synaptic Complex Formation (SCF). The formation of the SCF is a checkpoint ensuring proper cleavage. HMGB1 is a non-histone protein from the host which is associated with eukaryotic chromatin. It enhances the preferential binding of the transposase to the IR/DR sequences and is likely essential for SCF complex formation/stability. Transposase cleaves the DNA at the target sites, generating 3' overhangs. The enzyme then targets TA dinucleotides in the host genome as target sites for integration. The same enzymatic catalytic site which cleaved the DNA is responsible for integrating the DNA into the genome, duplicating the region of the genome in the process. Although transposase is specific for TA dinucleotides, the high frequency of these pairs in the genome indicates that the transposon undergoes fairly random integration. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17030615 | 1,457,859 |
705,960 | Occupational noise exposure is the main risk factor for work-related hearing loss. One study examined hearing test results obtained between 2000 and 2008 for workers ages 18–65 who had a higher occupational noise exposure than the average worker. Of the sample taken, 18% of the workers had hearing loss. Of the occupations considered, the Mining industry had the highest prevalence and risk of hearing loss, at approximately 27%. Other industries with a higher prevalence and risk included Construction (23.48%) and Manufacturing, especially Wood Product and Non-metallic Mineral Product (19.89%), Apparel (20.18%), and Machinery (21.51%). Estimates of rates of hearing loss have been reported for workers in the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting (AFFH) sector. The overall prevalence of hearing loss (defined as a pure‐tone average threshold across frequencies 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz of 25 dB or more in either ear) was 15% but that rate was exceeded in several of the subsectors of those industries. Prevalences were highest among workers in Forest Nurseries and Gathering of Forest Products at 36% and Timber Tract Operations at 22%. The Aquaculture sub‐sector had the highest adjusted risk (adjusted probability ratio of 1.7) of all sub‐sectors of the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting industries. The same methodology was used to estimate the prevalence of hearing loss for noise-exposed U.S. workers within the Health Care and Social Assistance sector. The prevalence of hearing loss in the Medical Laboratories subsector was 31% and in the Offices of All Other Miscellaneous Health Practitioners subsector was 24%. The Child Day Care Services subsector had a 52% higher risk than the reference industry.While the overall HSA sector prevalence for hearing loss was 19%, the prevalence in the Medical Laboratories subsector and the Offices of All Other Miscellaneous Health Practitioners subsector were 31% and 24%, respectively. The Child Day Care Services subsector had a 52% higher risk than the reference industry of workers who are not exposed to noise at work (Couriers and Messengers). Overall, audiometric records show that about 33% of working-age adults with a history of occupational noise exposure have evidence of noise-induced hearing damage, and 16% of noise-exposed workers have material hearing impairment. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6894544 | 705,591 |
703,773 | The force flexibility that underlies this command style poses particular challenges once this new, task-oriented formation is created. The creation of combined-arms forces poses particular challenges to command, especially if they are attached during a battle. To this end (in and before WW2) the German General Staff cross-posted officers and NCOs between the different branches of the Army. It was therefore not unusual to find an armor commander with experience of artillery and infantry command. Similarly, NCOs with cross-branch tactical experience ensured that these combined-arms teams did operate in an integrated fashion. The German High Command (OKH) ran multiple exercises, or war games, in the 1930s, starting with small operations and in later years involving very large formations and major movements to ensure doctrinal coherence and the opportunity to revise and learn. The General Staff played a vital role in assuring the quality of these exercises and in ensuring lessons were learnt and much of the philosophy was incorporated in their 1933 Field Manual Truppenführung. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1960159 | 703,405 |
1,296,363 | A newer, non-rule based form of A.I. for security called "behavioral analytics" has been developed. This software is fully self-learning with no initial programming input by the user or security contractor. In this type of analytics, the A.I. learns what is normal behaviour for people, vehicles, machines, and the environment based on its own observation of patterns of various characteristics such as size, speed, reflectivity, color, grouping, vertical or horizontal orientation and so forth. The A.I. normalises the visual data, meaning that it classifies and tags the objects and patterns it observes, building up continuously refined definitions of what is normal or average behaviour for the various observed objects. After several weeks of learning in this fashion it can recognise when things break the pattern. When it observes such anomalies it sends an alert. For example, it is normal for cars to drive in the street. A car seen driving up onto a sidewalk would be an anomaly. If a fenced yard is normally empty at night, then a person entering that area would be an anomaly. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48653319 | 1,295,652 |
157,607 | For the average woman, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends (2016) mammography every two years between the ages of 50 and 74, concluding that "the benefit of screening mammography outweighs the harms by at least a moderate amount from age 50 to 74 years and is greatest for women in their 60s". The American College of Radiology and American Cancer Society recommend yearly screening mammography starting at age 40. The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (2012) and the European Cancer Observatory (2011) recommend mammography every 2 to 3 years between ages 50 and 69. These task force reports point out that in addition to unnecessary surgery and anxiety, the risks of more frequent mammograms include a small but significant increase in breast cancer induced by radiation. Additionally, mammograms should not be performed with increased frequency in patients undergoing breast surgery, including breast enlargement, mastopexy, and breast reduction. The Cochrane Collaboration (2013) concluded after ten years that trials with adequate randomization did not find an effect of mammography screening on total cancer mortality, including breast cancer. The authors of this Cochrane review write: "If we assume that screening reduces breast cancer mortality by 15% and that overdiagnosis and over-treatment is at 30%, it means that for every 2,000 women invited for screening throughout 10 years, one will avoid dying of breast cancer and 10 healthy women, who would not have been diagnosed if there had not been screening, will be treated unnecessarily. Furthermore, more than 200 women will experience important psychological distress including anxiety and uncertainty for years because of false positive findings." The authors conclude that the time has come to re-assess whether universal mammography screening should be recommended for any age group. They state that universal screening may not be reasonable. The Nordic Cochrane Collection updated research in 2012 and stated that advances in diagnosis and treatment make mammography screening less effective today, rendering it "no longer effective". They conclude that "it therefore no longer seems reasonable to attend" for breast cancer screening at any age, and warn of misleading information on the internet. On the contrary, a report in the "New England Journal of Medicine" attributes the poor effectiveness of national mammography screening programs at reducing breast cancer mortality to radiation-induced cancers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=262039 | 157,535 |
582,572 | The biological carbon pump is one of the chief determinants of the vertical distribution of carbon in the oceans and therefore of the surface partial pressure of CO governing air-sea CO exchange. It comprises phytoplankton cells, their consumers and the bacteria that assimilate their waste and plays a central role in the global carbon cycle by delivering carbon from the atmosphere to the deep sea, where it is concentrated and sequestered for centuries. Photosynthesis by phytoplankton lowers the partial pressure of CO in the upper ocean, thereby facilitating the absorption of CO from the atmosphere by generating a steeper CO gradient. It also results in the formation of particulate organic carbon (POC) in the euphotic layer of the epipelagic zone (0–200 m depth). The POC is processed by microbes, zooplankton and their consumers into fecal pellets, organic aggregates (“marine snow”) and other forms, which are thereafter exported to the mesopelagic (200–1000 m depth) and bathypelagic zones by sinking and vertical migration by zooplankton and fish. Although primary production includes both dissolved and particulate organic carbon (DOC and POC respectively), only POC leads to efficient carbon export to the ocean interior, whereas the DOC fraction in surface waters is mostly recycled by bacteria. However, a more biologically resistant DOC fraction produced in the euphotic zone (accounting for 15–20% of net community productivity), is not immediately mineralized by microbes and accumulates in the ocean surface as biologically semi-labile DOC. This semi-labile DOC undergoes net export to the deep ocean, thus constituting a dynamic part of the biological carbon pump. The efficiency of DOC production and export varies across oceanographic regions, being more prominent in the oligotrophic subtropical oceans. The overall efficiency of the biological carbon pump is mostly controlled by the export of POC. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=240228 | 582,274 |
335,513 | The principle of liquid-crystal display (LCD) technology relies on the rotation of the axis of linear polarization by the liquid crystal array. Light from the backlight (or the back reflective layer, in devices not including or requiring a backlight) first passes through a linear polarizing sheet. That polarized light passes through the actual liquid crystal layer which may be organized in pixels (for a TV or computer monitor) or in another format such as a seven-segment display or one with custom symbols for a particular product. The liquid crystal layer is produced with a consistent right (or left) handed chirality, essentially consisting of tiny helices. This causes circular birefringence, and is engineered so that there is a 90 degree rotation of the linear polarization state. However, when a voltage is applied across a cell, the molecules straighten out, lessening or totally losing the circular birefringence. On the viewing side of the display is another linear polarizing sheet, usually oriented at 90 degrees from the one behind the active layer. Therefore, when the circular birefringence is removed by the application of a sufficient voltage, the polarization of the transmitted light remains at right angles to the front polarizer, and the pixel appears dark. With no voltage, however, the 90 degree rotation of the polarization causes it to exactly match the axis of the front polarizer, allowing the light through. Intermediate voltages create intermediate rotation of the polarization axis and the pixel has an intermediate intensity. Displays based on this principle are widespread, and now are used in the vast majority of televisions, computer monitors and video projectors, rendering the previous CRT technology essentially obsolete. The use of polarization in the operation of LCD displays is immediately apparent to someone wearing polarized sunglasses, often making the display unreadable. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41564 | 335,335 |
2,096,016 | From the 1920s, thanks to scholarships awarded by the , a large number of Spanish physicists and chemists had travelled abroad and renowned scientists had visited Spain, including Urbain, Fourneau, Fabry, Perrin, Fajans, Sabatier, Ostwald, Mme. Curie, Einstein, Scherrer, Weiss, Sommerfeld, and many others. Furthermore, the Society gradually became integrated in other scientific societies such as the Committee of the ‘Solar Union’ (the International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research) or in the young International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and was invited to send delegations to various international conferences and commemorations. Some Society scientists (Cajal, Cabrera, Hauser, Rodríguez Mourelo, Torres Quevedo, Casares, Carracido, Moles, etc.) were invited as conference speakers; their works were translated, and they were honoured at teaching and scientific institutions in Europe and America. For example, the ‘father of Spanish physics’, the Lanzarotean Blas Cabrera (who was President of the SEFQ in 1916), took part at the Solvay Conferences of 1930 and 1933. In short, in the spirit of the catchphrases ‘building science and building patriotism’, ‘making ourselves known and valued abroad’, or other similar slogans often repeated at the successive Boards’ monthly meetings, scientists of the Generation of 1898 expressed their deep-rooted belief in the Spanish capacity for regeneration. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60132162 | 2,094,808 |
1,933,728 | Sarah Tishkoff participated in the first study on variability in PTC taste perception. PTC is the bitter antithyroid compound phenylthiocarbamide, and the ability to perceive this compound is attributed to the gene "TAS2R38". "TAS2R38" is hypothesized to underlie a dietary adaptation that allows for avoidance of bitter-tasting poisonous foods. Tishkoff and colleagues hypothesized that African populations with different diets would have differences in their receptor genes due to selection associated with their diets. The study was based on a sample of 57 African populations consisting of 611 individuals and a comparative set of 132 non-Africans from the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. Researchers measured participants' PTC bitter taste sensitivity using a modified version of the Harris - Kalmus threshold method, sequenced genomes, and completed haplotype and genotype–phenotype association analyses. Results failed to support the original hypothesis. African populations with divergent diets showed similar haplotype frequencies and there was little genetic differentiation between Africans and non-Africans. This stability suggests that variation of "TAS2R38" is functionally important and does more than just steer us away from bitter tasting potential toxins. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=58971746 | 1,932,620 |
2,114,359 | Siepel has worked on various problems at the intersection of computer science, statistics, evolutionary biology, and genomics. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, he developed phylogenetic methods for detecting recombinant strains of HIV, and at the National Center for Genome Resources, he led the development of ISYS, a technology for integrating heterogeneous bioinformatics databases, analysis tools, and visualization programs. Siepel also did theoretical work on algorithms for phylogeny reconstruction based on genome rearrangements, working with Bernard Moret at the University of New Mexico. When Siepel left software development to join David Haussler's laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz, he turned to computational problems in comparative genomics. In Haussler's group, he developed several analysis methods based on phylogenetic hidden Markov models, including a widely used program called phastCons for identifying evolutionarily conserved sequences in genomic sequences. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35487183 | 2,113,144 |
741,418 | Debates over the identity of "Helicoprion"'s tooth whorl were abundant in the years following Karpinsky's monograph. In 1900, the publication was reviewed by Charles Eastman, who appreciated the paper as a whole but derided the sketch of the supposed life position of the whorl. Though Eastman admitted that the teeth of the whorl were very similar to those of other chondrichthyans, he still supported the idea that the whorl may have been a defensive structure embedded into the body of the animal, rather than the mouth. Shortly after his original monograph, Karpinsky published the argument that the whorl represented a curled, scute-covered tail akin to that of "Hippocampus" (seahorses). This proposal was immediately criticized by various researchers. E. Van den Broeck noted the fragility of the structure and argued that it was most well-protected as a paired feeding apparatus in the cheek of the animal. A.S. Woodward (unrelated to Henry Woodward) followed this suggestion with the hypothesis that each whorl represented a tooth battery from a gigantic shark. G. Simoens illustrated Karpinsky's various proposals and used histological data to adamantly argue that the whorls were toothed structures placed within the mouth. In 1911, Karpinsky illustrated the whorls as components of the dorsal fins. Reconstructions similar to those of Karpinsky (1899) were common in Russian publications as late as 2001. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1856394 | 741,026 |
1,951,255 | Surgical treatment is best, when it can be performed. Pressure within the portal vein is measured as the shunt is closed, and it must be kept below 20 cm HO or else portal hypertension will ensue. Methods of shunt attenuation should aim to slowly occlude the vessel over several weeks to months in order to avoid complications associated with portal hypertension. These methods include ameroid ring constrictors, cellophane banding, intravascular or percutaneous silicone hydraulic occluders. The most common methods of attenuation used by veterinarians are ameroid ring constrictors and cellophane banding. Both methods have reportedly good outcomes in both cats and dogs, although the true composition of readily sourced cellophane has been found to be made from plastics (inert) and not cellulose (stimulates a fibrous reaction). Recently, a commercial supplier of regenerated cellulose based cellophane for veterinarians has been established for use of cellophane banding for portosystemic shunts in dogs and cats. Complete closure of extrahepatic shunts results in a very low recurrence rate, while incomplete closure results in a recurrence rate of about 50 percent. However, not all dogs with extrahepatic shunts tolerate complete closure (16 to 68 percent). Intrahepatic shunts are much more difficult to surgically correct than extrahepatic shunts due to their hidden nature, large vessel size, and greater tendency toward portal hypertension when completely closed. When surgery is not an option, PSS is treated as are other forms of liver failure. Antibiotics such as neomycin or metronidazole and other medicines such as lactulose can reduce ammonia production and absorption in the intestines. The prognosis is guarded for any form of PSS. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68595657 | 1,950,134 |
2,002,044 | In 1988, Hubbard Brook was designated by the National Science Foundation as an LTER, a site for collaborative long term ecological research. In 2005, Hubbard Brook celebrated 50 years of research at the site. Likens' work in the area is considered "one of the world’s most comprehensive studies on how air pollution and land use shape forested watersheds". Work at Mirror Lake, at the lower end of the Hubbard Brook Valley, has been particularly important in understanding the importance of physical, chemical, and biological linkages involving the lake and its watershed and airshed. Likens has extensively studied biogeochemical cycles describing the flow of matter within ecosystems. Riparian zones linking water and land are particularly important in maintaining the health of wild lands. Likens has also done important work on deforestation and its potential impact on the chemistry of watersheds. This research has had significant impacts on programs for forest management, in particular the United States Forest Service's adoption of a 100–year rotation policy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3782916 | 2,000,896 |
181,088 | While the first experimental pressurization systems saw use during the 1920s and 1930s, it was not until 1940 that a commercial aircraft would enter service with a pressurized cabin, when the Boeing 307 Stratoliner joined the Transcontinental & Western Air and Pan American Airways fleets. The practice would become widespread a decade later, particularly with the introduction of the British de Havilland Comet jetliner in 1949. While initially a success, two catastrophic failures in 1954 temporarily grounded the worldwide fleet. The cause was found to be a combination of progressive metal fatigue and aircraft skin stresses, both of which aeronautical engineers had limited understanding at the time. Testing involved multiple full scale pressurisation cycle tests of the entire fuselage in a water tank. The key engineering principles learned from the Comet were applied directly to the design of all subsequent jet airliners, such as the Boeing 707. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1488888 | 180,994 |
1,945,464 | "P. yonahlossee" can be found in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Tennessee, western North Carolina, and small portions of southwest Virginia. Specifically, they have been located in Avery, Yancey, and Rutherford Counties in North Carolina; Rocky Fork State Park & Limestone Cove in Unicoi County, Tennessee, and Whitetop Mountain, Virginia. They are found in a variety of upland wooded habitats. They tend to be located in deciduous forests at elevations between 437 and 1,737 m, but tend to be more altitudinally restricted compared to other members of Plethodontidae. They are also commonly found in damp, shaded areas around wooded hillsides and ravines, where rock slides are covered with mosses and ferns; areas with old windfalls; and grassy areas near woodlands. A unique population only found in Rutherford County, North Carolina, occurs near Bat Cave and is often found in rock crevices, but is sometimes recognized as a separate species characterized by different coloration and limb morphology, "P. longicrus". These Bat Cave variants may have red of the dorsum prominent, patchy, or even lacking, and their sides are dark with light spots. The coloration of the Bat Cave variant is much darker than the common "P. yonahlossee", and some scientists still consider them to be a separate species. Furthermore, the variant does not reach sexual maturity like "P. yonahlossee", but matures according to size. Males must reach greater than 65 mm and females must be greater than 61 mm before being considered mature. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12403981 | 1,944,352 |
677,460 | Von Guericke was the offspring of one of Magdeburg's leading patrician families, that were well educated and well connected. His father and grandfather had been life-long members of the city council and at various occasions during their careers been appointed to serve as mayor of the city. In 1626 Otto von Guericke started his career as political representative of Magdeburg and accepted an official appointment to join the city council. However, in 1618 the Thirty Years' War had broken out. This exceptionally long, tragic and destructive conflict would soon also descend upon Magdeburg. Only a few years later, he had luckily fled from the city before an army of the imperial Catholic League, led by the Count of Tilly had completely surrounded and cut off Magdeburg. The attack culminated in the single most devastating event of the entire war, namely the Sack of Magdeburg. In May 1631 the imperial troops had crushed the city walls and indiscriminately plundered the riches. Around eighty percent of its more than 25,000 inhabitants perished. The material loss was also unusually high as widespread fires destroyed about 1,700 of a total of 1,900 buildings, including all of von Guericke's personal property. He returned to Magdeburg in 1631 and his academic engineer education designated him an appointee of the reconstruction committee. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49828 | 677,107 |
1,026,301 | Estimates of the minimum reasonable population for a generation ship vary. Anthropologist John Moore has estimated that, without genetic testing of people before boarding the ship, social control and / or social engineering (such as requiring people to wait until their thirties to have children), nor cryopreservation of eggs, sperm, or embryos (as is done in sperm banks), a minimum of 160 people boarding the ship would allow normal family life (with the average individual having ten potential marriage partners) throughout a 200-year space journey, with little loss of genetic diversity. If the people who board the ship are couples, presumably in their early twenties, and everybody who lives in the ship is required to wait until their mid to late thirties before having children, then the minimum would be just 80 people. However, many variables are not accounted for in the estimate, including the higher chance of health problems for both the person who is pregnant and the fetus or baby because of the pregnant person's age. In 2013, anthropologist Cameron Smith reviewed existing literature and created a new computer model to estimate a minimum reasonable population in the tens of thousands. Smith's numbers were much larger than previous estimates such as Moore's, in part because Smith takes the risk of accidents and disease into consideration, and assumes at least one severe population catastrophe over the course of a 150-year journey. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=85620 | 1,025,767 |
1,176,143 | One unique property of dendrimers such as PAMAM is the high density of surface functional groups, which allow many alterations to be made to the surface of each dendrimer molecule. In putative PAMAM dendrimers, the surface is rife with primary amines, with higher generations expressing exponentially greater densities of amino groups. Although the potential to attach many things to each dendrimer is one of their greatest advantages, the presence of highly localized positive charges can be toxic to cells. Surface modification via attachment of acetyl and lauroyl groups help mask these positive charges, attenuating cytotoxicity and increasing permeability to cells. Thus, these types of modifications are especially beneficial for biological applications. Secondary and tertiary amino surface groups are also found to be less toxic than primary amino surface groups, suggesting it is charge shielding which has major bearing on cytotoxicity and not some secondary effect from a particular functional group. Furthermore, other studies point to a delicate balance in charge which must be achieved to obtain minimal cytotoxicity. Hydrophobic interactions can also cause cell lysis, and PAMAM dendrimers whose surfaces are saturated with nonpolar modifications such as lipids or polyethylene glycol (PEG) suffer from higher cytotoxicity than their partially substituted analogues. PAMAM dendrimers with nonpolar internal components have also been shown to induce hemolysis. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41237117 | 1,175,521 |
254,150 | With Truman as president, men like John R. Steelman, who was appointed chairman of the President's Scientific Research Board in October 1946, came to prominence. Bush's authority, both among scientists and politicians, suffered a rapid decline, though he remained a revered figure. In September 1949, he was appointed to head a scientific panel that included Oppenheimer to review the evidence that the Soviet Union had tested its first atomic bomb. The panel concluded that it had, and this finding was relayed to Truman, who made the public announcement. During 1952 Bush was one of five members of the State Department Panel of Consultants on Disarmament, and led the panel in urging that the United States postpone its planned first test of the hydrogen bomb and seek a test ban with the Soviet Union, on the grounds that avoiding a test might forestall development of a catastrophic new weapon and open the way for new arms agreements between the two nations. The panel lacked political allies in Washington, however, and the Ivy Mike shot went ahead as scheduled. Bush was outraged when a security hearing stripped Oppenheimer of his security clearance in 1954; he issued a strident attack on Oppenheimer's accusers in "The New York Times". Alfred Friendly summed up the feeling of many scientists in declaring that Bush had become "the Grand Old Man of American science". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32767 | 254,017 |
1,405,860 | From the Renaissance to the mid-nineteenth century, there was increasing reference to ancient disease, initially within prehistoric animals although later the importance of studying the antiquity of human disease began to be emphasized. Some historians and anthropologists theorize that "Johann Friederich Esper, a German naturalist...heralds the birth of paleopathology." Although it wasn't until between the mid nineteenth century and World War I that the field of human paleopathology is generally considered to have come about. During this period, a number of pioneering physicians and anthropologists, such as Marc Armand Ruffer, G. Elliot Smith, Frederic Wood Jones, Douglas E. Derry, and Samuel George Shattock, clarified the medical nature of ancient skeletal pathologies. This work was consolidated between the world wars with methods such as radiology, histology and serology being applied more frequently, improving diagnosis and accuracy with the introduction of statistical analysis. It was at this point that paleopathology can truly be considered to have become a scientific discipline. Today, the use of biomedical technology like DNA and isotopic analysis are major developments for pathological knowledge. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2212957 | 1,405,070 |
1,516,779 | Augusto Bonazzi (Rome, December 1890 – Caracas, March 1974). Bonazzi studied chemistry in the Universities of Naples and Earth Sciences in University of Rome. From 1911 to 1924 he worked as researcher at Wooster Experimental Agricultural Station in Ohio, United States. In 1926 moved to Havana (Cuba) and became director of the Sugar Cane Experimental Station of the American Sugar Refining Company. In 1937 he arrived in Venezuela as a researcher at the Chemistry Laboratory at the El Valle Experimental Station and later was nominated director of the Research Service of the Ministry of Agriculture. In Caracas founded the School of Agriculture and Zootecnia of the Central University of Venezuela, that soon would become the Faculty of Agronomic Engineering. He was Professor of Chemistry of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the UCV, and when the Faculty of Sciences was created in 1958, he became Professor of the School of Chemistry, of which he was director until his death in 1974. He was also founder of the Venezuelan Society of Chemistry in 1938 where it publishes, an important number of articles of scientific diffusion in magazines and newspapers of national coverage. Bonazzi was member of the Special Committee for the Standardization of Methods of Edaphic Microbiology of the International Society of Pedology and candidate for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1969. Dr. Bonazzi founded the studies in Geochemistry in Venezuela; throughout his career opened lines of research that still persist in the Institute of Earth Sciences, the former Institute of Chemistry that he directed since 1964 and which formed a considerable number of professionals in that area. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29302481 | 1,515,927 |
1,516,825 | (El Tocuyo, Lara State, September 19, 1858 – Valencia, Carabobo state, April 10, 1929). Venezuelan physician, naturalist, historian, linguist and philologist. This eminent scientist overcome his poverty and, in 1888, managed to graduate of doctor in the Central University of Venezuela. He then began a professional career that would lead him to practice medicine and philanthropy in all regions of Venezuela. He conducts studies on folklore, ethnography, zoology, botany and linguistics. Lisandro Alvarado produced a copious printed work that includes twenty-four books and numerous essays. Among the first are "Ideas on the evolution of Spanish in Venezuela", "Glossary of indigenous voices", "Phonetic alterations of Spanish in Venezuela", "Neurosis of famous men", "History of the Federal Revolution in Venezuela" and "Crimes politicians of our history." Also translated seven of the nine volumes referred to Venezuela from Alejandro de Humboldt's "Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent" into Spanish, from his original language. He was a fervent disciple of the positivism sponsored in Venezuela by Dr. Adolf Ernst, he belonged to the Academies of Medicine, History and Language and was a corresponding member of numerous foreign scientific corporations. The National Academy of History holds in custody an unpublished collection of his manuscripts. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29302481 | 1,515,973 |
1,453,806 | Practical engineering designs must first take into account safety as the primary goal. All designs should incorporate passive cooling in combination with refractory materials to prevent melting and reconfiguration of fissionables into geometries capable of un-intentional criticality. Blanket layers of Lithium bearing compounds will generally be included as part of the design to generate Tritium to allow the system to be self-supporting for one of the key fuel element components. Tritium, because of its relatively short half-life and extremely high radioactivity, is best generated on-site to obviate the necessity of transportation from a remote location. D-T fuel can be manufactured on-site using Deuterium derived from heavy water production and Tritium generated in the hybrid reactor itself. Nuclear spallation to generate additional neutrons can be used to enhance the fission output, with the caveat that this is a tradeoff between the number of neutrons (typically 20-30 neutrons per spallation event) against a reduction of the individual energy of each neutron. This is a consideration if the reactor is to use natural Thorium as a fuel. While high energy (0.17c) neutrons produced from fusion events are capable of directly causing fission in both Thorium and U, the lower energy neutrons produced by spallation generally cannot. This is a tradeoff that affects the mixture of fuels against the degree of spallation used in the design. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20766780 | 1,452,989 |
706,993 | The L-39 Albatros was designed during the 1960s as a replacement for the Aero L-29 Delfín as a principal training aircraft. Several specialised variants of the base L-39 design were quickly introduced. In 1972, a purpose-built target tug variant, the L-39V, conducted its initial flight. During 1975, the first "L-39ZO" training/light combat model, which was equipped with four underwing hardpoints as well as a strengthened wing and modified landing gear, performed its first flight. In 1977, the first "L-39ZA" light combat variant, which was fitted with a single Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 cannon mounted underneath the fuselage in addition to the four hardpoints and strengthening of the L-39ZO, made its maiden flight. According to aerospace publication Flight International, roughly 200 L-39s were being sold each year upon the jet trainer market during the late 1980s. Sales of the L-39 declined during the 1990s. This downturn has been attributed to the loss of the captive Warsaw Pact trainer market, to which a substantial proportion of the total aircraft manufactured had been historically sold to; allegations about Czechoslovak banks being unable to finance the defense industry and inaction on the part of the Czechoslovak government; and concerns over the quality of manufacturing standards. During 1996, production of the L-39 was terminated. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=493754 | 706,624 |
1,590,351 | The village plan initially called for a village of 6,500 people, expandable up to 7,500, based on the assumption that 30 to 40 percent of the operating employees would live in the surrounding communities. The inability of those communities to absorb the numbers soon became apparent, and in September 1943 the size of Richland was set at 16,000. DuPont put the contract for building the village out to tender, and the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, G. Albin Pehrson, on 16 March 1943. Pehrson opened an office at Pasco High School. He produced a series of standard house designs based on the Cape Cod and ranch-style house design fashions of the day. While the Hanford construction camp had a grid layout, the residential areas of Richland had curved streets and cul-de-sacs. Existing shade and fruit trees were retained where possible. Power lines ran behind the houses. Unlike Oak Ridge and Los Alamos, Richland was not surrounded by a high wire fence. Because it was open, Matthias asked DuPont to ensure that it was kept neat and tidy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=72002318 | 1,589,457 |
232,938 | High tariffs had always been Republican Party orthodoxy. However, the western elements wanted lower tariffs on industrial products while keeping rates high on farm products. Democrats had a powerful campaign issue to the effect that high tariffs enriched big business and hurt consumers; they wanted to sharply lower rates and impose an income tax on the rich. Roosevelt realized the political dilemma and avoided or postponed the tariff issue for his entire presidency; it exploded under his successor and hurt Taft badly. The tariff protected domestic manufacturing against foreign competition, and kept wages high in American factories, thus attracting immigrants. Its taxes on imports produced over one-third of federal revenue in 1901. McKinley had been a committed protectionist, and the [[Dingley Act|Dingley Tariff]] of 1897 represented a major increase in tariff rates. McKinley also negotiated bilateral reciprocity treaties with France, Argentina, and other countries in an attempt to expand foreign trade while still keeping overall tariff rates high. Unlike all other previous Republican presidents, Roosevelt had never been a strong advocate of the protective tariff, nor did he place a high emphasis on tariffs in general. When Roosevelt took office, McKinley's reciprocity treaties were pending before the Senate, and many assumed that they would be ratified despite the opposition of Aldrich and other conservatives. After conferring with Aldrich, Roosevelt decided not to push Senate ratification of the treaties in order to avoid an intra-party conflict. He did, however, achieve some minor changes, such as reciprocal tariff treaties with the Philippines and, after overcoming domestic sugar interests, with Cuba. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3520221 | 232,819 |
387,192 | Historically, Bentham (1877), considered the monocots to consist of four alliances, Epigynae, Coronariae, Nudiflorae and Glumales, based on floral characteristics. He describes the attempts to subdivide the group since the days of Lindley as largely unsuccessful. Like most subsequent classification systems it failed to distinguish between two major orders, Liliales and Asparagales, now recognised as quite separate. A major advance in this respect was the work of Rolf Dahlgren (1980), which would form the basis of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group's (APG) subsequent modern classification of monocot families. Dahlgren who used the alternate name Lilliidae considered the monocots as a subclass of angiosperms characterised by a single cotyledon and the presence of triangular protein bodies in the sieve tube plastids. He divided the monocots into seven superorders, Alismatiflorae, Ariflorae, Triuridiflorae, Liliiflorae, Zingiberiflorae, Commeliniflorae and Areciflorae. With respect to the specific issue regarding Liliales and Asparagales, Dahlgren followed Huber (1969) in adopting a splitter approach, in contrast to the longstanding tendency to view Liliaceae as a very broad sensu lato family. Following Dahlgren's untimely death in 1987, his work was continued by his widow, Gertrud Dahlgren, who published a revised version of the classification in 1989. In this scheme the suffix "-florae" was replaced with "-anae" ("e.g." Alismatanae) and the number of superorders expanded to ten with the addition of Bromelianae, Cyclanthanae and Pandananae. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55625 | 386,997 |
1,267,410 | Referring to Fig. 1, key optical components were mounted within vacuum chamber "V" on a fused quartz base of extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion. A water jacket "W" kept the temperature regulated to within 0.001 °C. Monochromatic green light from a mercury source "Hg" passed through a Nicol polarizing prism "N" before entering the vacuum chamber, and was split by a beam splitter "B" set at Brewster's angle to prevent unwanted rear surface reflections. The two beams were directed towards two mirrors "M" and "M" which were set at distances as divergent as possible given the coherence length of the 5461 Å mercury line (≈32 cm, allowing a difference in arm length Δ"L" ≈ 16 cm). The reflected beams recombined to form circular interference fringes which were photographed at "P". A slit "S" allowed multiple exposures across the diameter of the rings to be recorded on a single photographic plate at different times of day. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=262824 | 1,266,720 |
448,627 | In 1936, Mark Oliphant was appointed the professor of physics at the University of Birmingham, and he approached Peierls about a new chair in applied mathematics that he was creating there. (Applied mathematics being what would today be called theoretical physics.) Peierls got the job despite competition from Harrie Massey and . The appointment at last gave Peierls a secure, permanent position. His students included Fred Hoyle and P. L. Kapur, a student from India. With Kapur he derived the dispersion formula for nuclear reactions originally given in perturbation theory by Gregory Breit and Eugene Wigner, but now included generalising conditions. This is now known as the Kapur–Peierls derivation. It is still used, but in 1947 Wigner and Leonard Eisenbud developed a more widely used alternative method. In 1938, Peierls paid visits to Copenhagen, where he collaborated with Bohr and George Placzek on a paper on what is now known as the Bohr–Peierls–Placzek relation. The Second World War broke out before it could be published; but drafts were circulated for comment, and it became one of the most cited unpublished papers of all time. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1024759 | 448,409 |
1,534,943 | The original technique of foldforming was originated and developed in the late 1980s by Charles Lewton-Brain, an English-born goldsmith who lived and studied in Tanzania, the United States, and Germany before moving to Canada. Outside of the Industrial Revolution, the method represents the first major innovation in metalworking in thousands of years. In the 1980s, the technique of foldforming metal was developed by Charles Lewton-Brain, who from a young age was interested in art and was inspired to pursue his interest in jewelry by his girlfriend's mother. In 1974 he went to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, where he studied jewelry-making and metalsmithing. After his college career, Christian Gaudernack, one of the NASCAD professors and a Norwegian goldsmith, inspired Lewton-Brain to continue his education, and he went on to attend the Fachhochschule fur Gestalstung, an art and design university in Pforzheim Germany. Lewton-Brain worked as a part-time goldsmith. During his time in the metals program, he was instructed by Klaus Ullrich, a postwar metalsmith. Ullrich was the person that helped Lewton-Brain to develop the foldforming technique. Ullrich emphasized to his students the importance of comprehending the properties of metal in order to understand how metal forms. Charles Lewton-Brain was able to develop his foldforming technique by seeing the characteristics of the metal as it is folded, unfolded, forged, rolled, annealed, and worked on. He brought about a new style of metalworking that had some connection to nature. His technique focused on the metal's natural reaction to being hammered and heated, based on his understanding of the metals elastic and ductile characteristics that were part of his instruction by Klaus Ullrich. Lewton-Brain continued to teach the foldforming technique to people at workshops and at Alberta College of Art and Design as the Head of Metals and Jewelry, having been part of this institute since 1986. By 1991, Lewton-Brain was winning awards for the technique and in 1997 workshops demonstrating the technique were at the core of the "Touch the Future" portion of the JCK International Jewelry Show in Orlando, Florida. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5977142 | 1,534,075 |
983,123 | Economists including Larry Summers have advised a package of measures may be needed. He advised vigorous cooperative efforts to address the "myriad devices" – such as tax havens, bank secrecy, money laundering, and regulatory arbitrage – which enable the holders of great wealth to avoid paying taxes, and to make it more difficult to accumulate great fortunes without requiring "great social contributions" in return. Summers suggested more vigorous enforcement of anti-monopoly laws; reductions in "excessive" protection for intellectual property; greater encouragement of profit-sharing schemes that may benefit workers and give them a stake in wealth accumulation; strengthening of collective bargaining arrangements; improvements in corporate governance; strengthening of financial regulation to eliminate subsidies to financial activity; easing of land-use restrictions that may cause estates to keep rising in value; better training for young people and retraining for displaced workers; and increased public and private investment in infrastructure development, such as energy production and transportation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32040137 | 982,609 |
1,414,558 | The enforced flatback airfoils are based on Kline–Fogleman airfoils, which have been subdivided into 12 sub-classifications on the inside. The Kline–Fogleman airfoil, sometimes known as the KF airfoil, is a basic airfoil with one or more steps along the length of the wing. In the early 1960s, a series of KF airfoils were constructed and used in paper planes for the first time. Because of their simple design, high climb and wind resistance, they are now widely used in remotely flown planes. Because the design profiles of basic and advanced airfoils are comparable, this study has been performed to undertake extensive investigations of the two types of airfoils. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is the suggested approach for studying the performance of various HDVAWT design profiles. CFD is a versatile approach for dealing with a wide range of difficult problems since it depends significantly on computer systems to solve forced real-time challenges. ANSYS Workbench 17.2 has been used to execute 3D numerical simulations for all of the proposed design airfoils, including the NACA 0018 airfoil and a series of Kline–Fogleman modified NACA 0018 airfoils. This was done to boost the power production and efficiency of the Darrieus VAWT using an H-rotor. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26794949 | 1,413,761 |
848,670 | Human preferences toward things in nature, while refined through experience and culture, are hypothetically the product of biological evolution. For example, adult mammals (especially humans) are generally attracted to baby mammal faces and find them appealing across species. The large eyes and small features of any young mammal face are far more appealing than those of the mature adults. Similarly, the hypothesis helps explain why ordinary people care for and sometimes risk their lives to save domestic and wild animals, and keep plants and flowers in and around their homes. In the book "Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations" edited by Peter Kahn and Stephen Kellert, the importance of animals, especially those with which a child can develop a nurturing relationship, is emphasized particularly for early and middle childhood. Chapter 7 of the same book reports on the help that animals can provide to children with autistic-spectrum disorders. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=189429 | 848,220 |
511,652 | Another serious obstacle encountered in river engineering consists in the large quantity of detritus they bring down in flood-time, derived mainly from the disintegration of the surface layers of the hills and slopes in the upper parts of the valleys by glaciers, frost and rain. The power of a current to transport materials varies with its velocity, so that torrents with a rapid fall near the sources of rivers can carry down rocks, boulders and large stones, which are by degrees ground by attrition in their onward course into slate, gravel, sand and silt, simultaneously with the gradual reduction in fall, and, consequently, in the transporting force of the current. Accordingly, under ordinary conditions, most of the materials brought down from the high lands by torrential water courses are carried forward by the main river to the sea, or partially strewn over flat alluvial plains during floods; the size of the materials forming the bed of the river or borne along by the stream is gradually reduced on proceeding seawards, so that in the Po River in Italy, for instance, pebbles and gravel are found for about 140 miles below Turin, sand along the next 100 miles, and silt and mud in the last 110 miles (176 km). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3966984 | 511,386 |
1,941,474 | Since characterization, the development of synthetic pathways to histrionicotoxin has been of interest to research groups due to its unusual functionality. The Kishi group proposed the first total synthesis of the parent 283A in 1985 using 89, a previously synthesized lactam used for the synthesis of other variants. Treatment with acetic anhydride yielded 133 in quantitative yield. The cyclic enol ether 134 was formed through oxidative cleavage promoting intramolecular addition followed by a basic deprotection and dehydration. Bromination followed by dehydrobromination in methanol was then found to give an epimeric mixture of unsaturated 135. Hydrolysis, reduction and acetylation yielded 136. Formation of a thiolactam followed by condensation with ethyl bromoacetate gave 137. Selective deprotection of the allylic alcohol followed by oxidation gave 138. A Wittig reaction then generated a chloroalkene, which, upon base-promoted elimination of HCl, gave a terminal alkyne, which was subsequently protected to form 139. The olefinic function of 139 was first reduced using cyanoborohydride before further reduction of 140 to an epimeric mixture of alcohols. A retro-Michael addition was then performed under basic conditions at low temperature, successfully epimerising this compound to give the desired epimer 141. A reaction with triphenylphosphine then generated the phosphonium salt 142, and a Wittig reaction could then be performed to attach the silyl-protected cis-ene-yne function, which was then deprotected to yield the target (±)-HTX 283A. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18630707 | 1,940,363 |
1,851,685 | The new journal had an ambitious program. As the Editor-in-Chief wrote in his first editorial:Right from the beginning we are emphasising the international and multilingual nature of this publication as well as the variety of the aspects of neurology which we hope to cover. ... "World Neurology"… requests review papers on current concepts and recent advances in their field of endeavour from authorities in clinical and basic neurology and the allied disciplines. These are then translated into English, French, German, or Spanish, in each case, a language different from the one most often used by the author. An article in any language is followed by comprehensive abstracts in the other three.Seen in retrospect, publishing articles in four different languages was too ambitious and time-consuming. The Editor-in-Chief realised that standards for reviewing manuscripts varied considerably over the world. The traditions of the referee systems varied. There were considerable differences in traditions for the presentation of data, and spelling, usage, style and grammar varied. The number of subscriptions was very slow to increase. Conflicts appeared. Charles Poser was replaced with Gilbert Glaser as Editor-in-Chief in September 1961 and "World Neurology" stopped publication in December 1962. It later reappeared in a different form as the WFN newsletter, while a new international "Journal of the Neurological Sciences" was founded in 1964. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55384832 | 1,850,624 |
948,057 | Owing to a limited literature on the subject, birds are believed to have very limited regenerative abilities as adults. Some studies on roosters have suggested that birds can adequately regenerate some parts of the limbs and depending on the conditions in which regeneration takes place, such as age of the animal, the inter-relationship of the injured tissue with other muscles, and the type of operation, can involve complete regeneration of some musculoskeletal structure. Werber and Goldschmidt (1909) found that the goose and duck were capable of regenerating their beaks after partial amputation and Sidorova (1962) observed liver regeneration via hypertrophy in roosters. Birds are also capable of regenerating the hair cells in their cochlea following noise damage or ototoxic drug damage. Despite this evidence, contemporary studies suggest reparative regeneration in avian species is limited to periods during embryonic development. An array of molecular biology techniques have been successful in manipulating cellular pathways known to contribute to spontaneous regeneration in chick embryos. For instance, removing a portion of the elbow joint in a chick embryo via window excision or slice excision and comparing joint tissue specific markers and cartilage markers showed that window excision allowed 10 out of 20 limbs to regenerate and expressed joint genes similarly to a developing embryo. In contrast, slice excision did not allow the joint to regenerate due to the fusion of the skeletal elements seen by an expression of cartilage markers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=854081 | 947,553 |
1,624,431 | In the 2000s, Kitaev was transferred to serve his sentence at the Torbeevsky Central Colony in Mordovia. During his imprisonment, he was described as a troublesome prisoner who would be repeatedly penalized for violating the rules. In 2010, under unclear circumstances, Kitaev suffered a spinal fracture with injuries to his spinal cord, and due to the resulting complications, had to walk with a noticeable limp and aided himself with crutches. After the incident, Kitaev and his lawyers turned towards a number of human rights organizations, which together with journalist Yelena Masyuk then visited the colony to conduct an investigation. They discovered that Kitaev's injury was a result of being severely beaten by prison guards after he caused an altercation. According to Kitaev, on August 19, 2010, he had been beaten by a group of around five or six guards, headed by Major Sergey Simakov, who hit him with a baton. Kitaev also claimed that Simakov had previously placed in him in solitary confinement during the winter season, where he was kept for 12 hours with an open window, and on another occasion, he was kept without a mattress and regularly beaten for 15 days on end. In addition to this, he also claimed that he witnessed Simakov beat up another convict named Kolyagin, who thereafter was left disabled from his injuries, and after he had been beaten, the colony guards forced him to make a written statement claiming that nobody was responsible for his condition. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66857982 | 1,623,515 |
1,471,993 | In the case of amoeboid migration, malignant tumor cells have been demonstrated to have a round or elliptical shape (Fig. 1). Amoeboid cells are characterized by fast deformability, adaption of their shapes to existing structures of the surrounding extracellular matrix, and penetration through them via narrow spaces in a compressed form. Movement and relocation are carried out through successive high-speed cycles of expansion and contraction of the cell’s body with the development of “bleb-like” protrusions of the cell membrane. These blebs allow the cell to investigate the microenvironment to find the most suitable route of movement to bypass various obstacles, whereby tumor cells are capable of moving through narrow gaps in the extracellular matrix. Developing changes in the cell shape are generated by the cortical actin cytoskeleton that is, in turn, controlled by small GTPase RhoA and its effector, ROCK kinase. This GTPase belongs to the superfamily of small GTP hydrolases, whose members play key roles in the amoeboid type of invasion, since they are involved in signal transduction and, thereby, in the regulation of a wide variety of processes occurring in the cell, including reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton during migration. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=58886026 | 1,471,164 |
630,277 | Meditation has been found to decrease mind wandering and allows the brain to fully focus on challenging tasks for longer periods of time without getting distracted. This is due to an increased ability to reduce activity in the default mode network when focusing on a particular task. Non-directive forms of meditation where the meditator lets their mind wander freely can actually produce higher levels of activity in the default mode network when compared to a resting state or having the brain in a neutral place. These Non directive forms of meditation allows the meditators to have better control over thoughts during everyday activities or when focusing on specific task due to a reduced frustration at the brains mind wandering process. When given a specific task, meditation can allow quicker response to changing environmental stimuli. Meditation can allow the brain to decrease attention to unwanted responses of irrelevant environmental stimuli and a reduces the Stroop effect. Those who meditate have regularly demonstrated more control on what they focus their attention on while maintaining a mindful awareness on what is around them. Experienced meditators have been shown to have an increased ability when it comes to conflict monitoring and find it easier to switch between competing stimuli. Those who practice meditation experience an increase of attentional resources in the brain and steady meditation practice can lead to the reduction of the attentional blink due to a decreased mental exertion when identifying important stimuli. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9578417 | 629,939 |
1,933,370 | Typical measurements of SHG from crystalline surfaces structures are performed by rotating the sample in an incident beam (Figure 1). The second harmonic signal will vary with the azimuth angle of the sample due to the symmetry of the atomic and electronic structure (Figure 2). As a result, surface SHG theory is highly dependent on geometry of the superstructure. Since electron interactions are responsible for the SHG response, the jellium model is usually numerically solved using Density Functional Theory to predict the SHG response of a given surface. SHG sensitivity to surface structure approach was effectively demonstrated by Heinz, Loy, and Thompson, working for IBM in 1985. They showed that the SHG signal from a freshly cleaved Si(111) surface would alter its behavior as the temperature was raised and the superstructure changed from a 2x1 structure to the 7x7 structure. Noting the change in signal, they were able to verify the existence of one mirror plane in the 2x1 construction and 3 mirror planes in the 7x7 construction thereby providing new information to the bonding structure of the surface atoms. Since then, surface SHG has been used to probe many other metallic surfaces such as reconstructed gold (110), Pd(111), and Al(100). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13752102 | 1,932,262 |
1,457,816 | Immediately prior to target introduction, the single stranded oligonucleotide library is often heated and cooled slowly to renature oligonucleotides into thermodynamically stable secondary and tertiary structures. Once prepared, the randomized library is incubated with immobilized target to allow oligonucleotide-target binding. There are several considerations for this target incubation step, including the target immobilization method and strategies for subsequent unbound oligonucleotide separation, incubation time and temperature, incubation buffer conditions, and target versus oligonucleotide concentrations. Examples of target immobilization methods include affinity chromatography columns, nitrocellulose binding assay filters, and paramagnetic beads. Recently, SELEX reactions have been developed where the target is whole cells, which are expanded near complete confluence and incubated with the oligonucleotide library on culture plates. Incubation buffer conditions are altered based on the intended target and desired function of the selected aptamer. For example, in the case of negatively charged small molecules and proteins, high salt buffers are used for charge screening to allow nucleotides to approach the target and increase the chance of a specific binding event. Alternatively, if the desired aptamer function is in vivo protein or whole cell binding for potential therapeutic or diagnostic application, incubation buffer conditions similar to in vivo plasma salt concentrations and homeostatic temperatures are more likely to generate aptamers that can bind in vivo. Another consideration in incubation buffer conditions is non-specific competitors. If there is a high likelihood of non-specific oligonucleotide retention in the reaction conditions, non specific competitors, which are small molecules or polymers other than the SELEX library that have similar physical properties to the library oligonucleotides, can be used to occupy these non-specific binding sites. Varying the relative concentration of target and oligonucleotides can also affect properties of the selected aptamers. If a good binding affinity for the selected aptamer is not a concern, then an excess of target can be used to increase the probability that at least some sequences will bind during incubation and be retained. However, this provides no selective pressure for high binding affinity, which requires the oligonucleotide library to be in excess so that there is competition between unique sequences for available specific binding sites. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8028338 | 1,456,996 |
1,968,855 | At the time of his retirement from Guy's Hospital in 1925, Fripp was a famous personage in London and environs: when he died in 1930, he was a household name throughout the Empire. In 1924, he performed life-prolonging abdominal surgery on a patient called Bert Temple. Bert formed Ye Ancient Order of Froth Blowers in order to raise £100 - in life-membership fees (5/-) and fines at meetings. This took a year. Then, in 1926, the Sporting Times advertised it and it took off. In four years Fripp, who was 'No. 1' to Bert's 'No.0', attended over two hundred A.O.F.B. functions and received in excess of £100,000 from the 688,000 Froth Blowers who had joined by 1930. In 1927, he helped to establish the West Wickham Home of Recovery for Children with Heart Disease, and the A.O.F.B. endowed 17 of its 50 beds at a cost of £8,500. It endowed at least 30 other 'cots' in other parts of the country. At the same time, in the grounds of the West Wickham Home, a still extant Girl Guide hut, called Heartsease, was built specifically for East End children. Over 600 needy causes were helped by the Order, despite being the target - Fripp, in particular - of the Temperance Movement's obloquy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3581938 | 1,967,721 |
796,750 | Furrow irrigation is conducted by creating small parallel channels along the length of the field parallel to the direction of its predominant slope. Water is applied to the top end of each furrow and flows down the field under the influence of gravity. Water may be supplied using gated pipe, siphon and head ditch, or bankless systems. The speed of water movement is determined by many factors such as slope, surface roughness, and furrow shape, but most importantly by the inflow rate and soil infiltration rate. The spacing between adjacent furrows is governed by the crop species, common spacings typically range from . The crop is planted on the ridge between furrows which may contain a single row of plants or several rows in the case of a bed-type system. Furrows may range anywhere from less than to long depending on the soil type, location, and crop type. Shorter furrows are commonly associated with higher uniformity of application but result in increasing potential for runoff losses. Furrow irrigation is particularly suited to broadacre row crops such as cotton, maize, and sugar cane. It is also practiced in various horticultural industries such as citrus, stone fruit, and tomatoes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17588855 | 796,325 |
134,138 | There was controversy when the public learned that the project had allowed an injured member to leave and return, carrying new material inside. The team claimed the only new supplies brought in were plastic bags, but others accused them of bringing food and other items. More criticism was raised when it was learned that, likewise, the project injected oxygen in January 1993 to make up for a failure in the balance of the system that resulted in the amount of oxygen steadily declining. Some thought that these criticisms ignored that Biosphere 2 was an experiment where the unexpected would occur, adding to knowledge of how complex ecologies develop and interact, not a demonstration where everything was known in advance. H.T. Odum noted: "The management process during 1992–1993 using data to develop theory, test it with simulation, and apply corrective actions was in the best scientific tradition. Yet some journalists crucified the management in the public press, treating the project as if it was an Olympic contest to see how much could be done without opening the doors". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=216362 | 134,083 |
1,748,381 | In early 1960 Air Force offered a development contract to build a spaceplane with a crew of three that could take off from any runway and fly directly into orbit and return. They wanted the design to be in operation in 1970 for a total development cost of only $5 billion. Boeing, Douglas, Convair, Lockheed, Goodyear, North American, and Republic all responded. Most of these designs ignored the ACES system and instead used a scramjet for power. The scramjet had first been outlined at about the same time as the original LACES design in a NASA paper of 1958, and many companies were highly interested in seeing it develop, perhaps none more than Marquardt, whose ramjet business was dwindling with the introduction of newer jet engines and who had already started work on the scramjet. Both Alexander Kartveli and Antonio Ferri were proponents of the scramjet approach. Ferri eventually successfully demonstrated a scramjet producing net thrust in November 1964, producing , about 80% of his goal. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2218788 | 1,747,395 |
1,280,834 | Darwin thought that the possibility of a common ancestor of "mammalia & fish" could not be ruled out when such strange forms as the platypus existed. The unique plants and animals on the Galápagos islands sharing features with mainland American species, while wandering birds such as sandpipers were unchanged, showed the way "creative power acted at Galapagos", confirmed "if we believe the Creator created by any laws, which I think is shown by the very facts of the Zoological character of these islands". A similar relationship in time was shown by the extinct armoured giant Glyptodon resembling the modern South American armadillo. He considered that the way that astronomers once thought that God ordered the movement of individual planets was comparable to individual creation of species in particular countries, but divine powers were "much more simple & sublime" in creating the first animals so that species then arose by "the fixed laws of generation". A hypothesis of "fresh creations" he saw as "mere assumption, it explains nothing further". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1632764 | 1,280,139 |
1,822,606 | This section amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 in which it adds a new subsection. The Secretary is required to carry out a program to competitively award cash prizes to advance the research, development, demonstration and commercial application of hydrogen energy technologies. The prize competitions are to be widely advertised to attract individuals, universities, and small and large businesses and must include announcements in the Federal Register. The categories that projects must adhere to are as follows: (1) advancements in technologies, components, or systems related to hydrogen production, storage, distribution, utilization; (2) prototypes of hydrogen-powered vehicles or other hydrogen-based products that best meet or exceed objective performance criteria, such as the completion of a race over a certain distance or terrain or generation of energy at certain levels of efficiency and; (3) transformational changes in technologies for the distribution or production of hydrogen that meet or exceed far-reaching objective criteria, which shall include minimal carbon emissions and which may include cost criteria designed to facilitate the eventual market success of a winning technology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30832113 | 1,821,568 |
317,622 | Researchers from Michigan State University have teamed up with others from the Universities of Minnesota, Guelph, and Wisconsin, and others in a research effort into newly synthesized pheromones. These are believed to have independent influences on the sea lamprey behavior. One group of pheromones serves a migratory function in that when they are made by larvae, they are thought to lure maturing adults into streams with suitable spawning habitat. Sex pheromones emitted from males are capable of luring females long distances to specific locations. These pheromones are both several different compounds thought to elicit different behaviors that collectively influence the lampreys to exhibit migratory or spawning behaviors. Scientists are trying to characterize the function of each pheromone, and each part of the molecules, to determine if they can be used in a targeted effort at environmentally friendly lamprey control. However, as of 2017, the most effective control measures still involve the application of (3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol), or TFM, a selective pesticide, into rivers. no lampricide resistance has been detected in the Great Lakes. Further research and combined use of multiple control methods are needed to forestall future development of resistance. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1202733 | 317,452 |
566,943 | The game received several pieces of merchandise, including clothing, a Funko Pop, and a replica of Ellie's guitar. Sony also released PlayStation 4 hardware and accessories branded with the game's logo and art, including a PlayStation 4 Pro, DualShock 4 controller, wireless headset, and Seagate hard drive. "The Art of The Last of Us Part II", a 200-page book featuring art and concepts from the game, was released in June 2020. Following the release, several developers and cast members promoted the game through appearances on online talk shows and podcasts. "The Official The Last of Us Podcast", hosted by Christian Spicer and published by Sony, began covering the game from its sixth episode in July 2020, featuring interviews with the cast and developers. For The Last of Us Day in September 2020, Naughty Dog announced new merchandise for the game, including a vinyl soundtrack, board game, statues, and posters. A trailer focusing on Abby's story and gameplay was released on December 3, 2020. For the game's first anniversary in June 2021, new clothing and merchandise was revealed, including a statue of Abby in collaboration with Dark Horse Direct. In August 2022, Naughty Dog announced a partnership with Chivas Brothers to create a whisky based on "The Last of Us Part II" called Moth & Wolf (resembling Ellie's tattoo and Abby's faction, respectively). A 2013 vintage—representative of the first game's release—the whisky, which sits at 40 percent alcohol by volume, carries notes of vanilla to represent the safety of Jackson, and smoke and malt to imitate the toughness of Seattle. Preorders opened in October. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64504979 | 566,653 |
228,302 | Line-field confocal optical coherence tomography (LC-OCT) is an imaging technique based on the principle of time-domain OCT with line illumination using a broadband laser and line detection using a line-scan camera. LC-OCT produces B-scans in real-time from multiple A-scans acquired in parallel. En face as well as three-dimensional images can also be obtained by scanning the illumination line laterally. The focus is continuously adjusted during the scan of the sample depth, using a high numerical aperture (NA) microscope objective to image with high lateral resolution. By using a supercontinuum laser as a light source, a quasi-isotropic spatial resolution of ~ 1 µm is achieved at a central wavelength of ~ 800 nm. On the other hand, line illumination and detection, combined with the use of a high NA microscope objective, produce a confocal gate that prevents most scattered light that does not contribute to the signal from being detected by the camera. This confocal gate, which is absent in the full-field OCT technique, gives LC-OCT an advantage in terms of detection sensitivity and penetration in highly scattering media such as skin tissues. So far this technique has been used mainly for skin imaging in the fields of dermatology and cosmetology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=628583 | 228,185 |
285,765 | On the other hand, in the late 1980s the Western Atlantic ctenophore "Mnemiopsis leidyi" was accidentally introduced into the Black Sea and Sea of Azov via the ballast tanks of ships, and has been blamed for causing sharp drops in fish catches by eating both fish larvae and small crustaceans that would otherwise feed the adult fish. "Mnemiopsis" is well equipped to invade new territories (although this was not predicted until after it so successfully colonized the Black Sea), as it can breed very rapidly and tolerate a wide range of water temperatures and salinities. The impact was increased by chronic overfishing, and by eutrophication that gave the entire ecosystem a short-term boost, causing the "Mnemiopsis" population to increase even faster than normal – and above all by the absence of efficient predators on these introduced ctenophores. "Mnemiopsis" populations in those areas were eventually brought under control by the accidental introduction of the "Mnemiopsis"-eating North American ctenophore "Beroe ovata", and by a cooling of the local climate from 1991 to 1993, which significantly slowed the animal's metabolism. However the abundance of plankton in the area seems unlikely to be restored to pre-"Mnemiopsis" levels. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62251 | 285,611 |
1,929,717 | Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain to undergo synaptic rearrangement as a response to recurring stimuli. Neurotrophin proteins play a major role in synaptic rearrangement, amongst other factors. Depletion of neurotrophin BDNF or BDNF signaling is one of the main factors in developing diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, and depression. Neuroplasticity can also occur as a consequence of targeted epigenetic modifications such as methylation and acetylation. Exposure to certain recurring stimuli leads to demethylation of particular loci and remethylation in a pattern that leads to a response to that particular stimulus. Like the histone readers, erasers and writers also modify histones by removing and adding modifying marks respectively. An eraser, neuroLSD1, is a modified version of the original Lysine Demethylase 1(LSD1) that exists only in neurons and assists with neuronal maturation. Although both versions of LSD1 share the same target, their expression patterns are vastly different and neuroLSD1 is a truncated version of LSD1. NeuroLSD1 increases the expression of immediate early genes (IEGs) involved in cell maturation. Recurring stimuli lead to differential expression of neuroLSD1, leading to rearrangement of loci. The eraser is also thought to play a major role in the learning of many complex behaviors and is way through which genes interact with the environment. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51304858 | 1,928,610 |
596,402 | Silver nanoparticles can undergo coating techniques that offer a uniform functionalized surface to which substrates can be added. When the nanoparticle is coated, for example, in silica the surface exists as silicic acid. Substrates can thus be added through stable ether and ester linkages that are not degraded immediately by natural metabolic enzymes. Recent chemotherapeutic applications have designed anti cancer drugs with a photo cleavable linker, such as an ortho-nitrobenzyl bridge, attaching it to the substrate on the nanoparticle surface. The low toxicity nanoparticle complex can remain viable under metabolic attack for the time necessary to be distributed throughout the bodies systems. If a cancerous tumor is being targeted for treatment, ultraviolet light can be introduced over the tumor region. The electromagnetic energy of the light causes the photo responsive linker to break between the drug and the nanoparticle substrate. The drug is now cleaved and released in an unaltered active form to act on the cancerous tumor cells. Advantages anticipated for this method is that the drug is transported without highly toxic compounds, the drug is released without harmful radiation or relying on a specific chemical reaction to occur and the drug can be selectively released at a target tissue. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23891367 | 596,097 |
17,550 | Berkeley alumni have developed a number of key technologies associated with the personal computer and the Internet. Unix was created by alumnus Ken Thompson (BS 1965, MS 1966) along with colleague Dennis Ritchie. Alumni such as L. Peter Deutsch (PhD 1973), Butler Lampson (PhD 1967), and Charles P. Thacker (BS 1967) worked with Ken Thompson on Project Genie and then formed the ill-fated US Department of Defense-funded Berkeley Computer Corporation (BCC), which was scattered throughout the Berkeley campus in non-descript offices to avoid anti-war protestors. After BCC failed, Deutsch, Lampson, and Thacker joined Xerox PARC, where they developed a number of pioneering computer technologies, culminating in the Xerox Alto that inspired the Apple Macintosh. In particular, the Alto used a computer mouse, which had been invented by Doug Engelbart (BEng 1952, PhD 1955). Thompson, Lampson, Engelbart, and Thacker all later received a Turing Award. Also at Xerox PARC was Ronald V. Schmidt (BS 1966, MS 1968, PhD 1971), who became known as "the man who brought Ethernet to the masses". Another Xerox PARC researcher, Charles Simonyi (BS 1972), pioneered the first WYSIWIG word processor program and was recruited personally by Bill Gates to join the fledgling company known as Microsoft to create Microsoft Word. Simonyi later became the first repeat space tourist, blasting off on Russian Soyuz rockets to work at the International Space Station orbiting the earth. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31922 | 17,544 |
844,785 | Besides mercury vapor, the lamp contains iodides or bromides of different metals. Iodine and bromine are of the halogen group of the periodic table, and so are termed "halides" when ionized. Scandium and sodium are also used in some types, with thallium, indium, and sodium in European "Tri-Salt" models. Dysprosium used for high color temperature and tin for lower color temperature. Holmium and thulium are used in very high power movie lighting models and in daylight colored metal halide lamps for area floodlighting, compact low wattage metal halide lamps, as well as stadium lighting in Europe. Gallium or lead are used in special high UV-A models for printing purposes. The mixture of the metals used defines the color of the lamp. Some types, for festive or theatrical effect, use almost pure iodides of thallium, for green lamps, and indium, for blue lamps. An alkali metal, (sodium or potassium), is almost always added to reduce the arc impedance, allowing the arc tube to be made sufficiently long and simple electrical ballasts to be used. A noble gas, usually argon, is cold filled into the arc tube at a pressure of about 2 kPa to facilitate starting of the discharge. Argon filled lamps are typically quite slow to start up, taking several minutes to reach full light intensity; xenon fill, as used in automotive headlamps, start up relatively faster. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1289944 | 844,335 |
2,170,711 | The Namche Barwa-Gayla Peri tectonic aneurysm is located on the Eastern side of the Himalaya with the active Tsangpo River flowing down the valley between the mountains. Many researchers conclude the tectonic aneurysm model is the best explanation of the observed structures and tectonic arrangement of the region. The argon-argon biotite ages and zircon fission track ages of rocks from the area are 10 million years old or less, which is young compared to the surrounding rocks. Similar high reliefs seen in the Nanga Parbat are also evident with the Namche Barwa region, with approximately 4 kilometers of vertical elevation change over a short horizontal distance. High and low-grade metamorphic rocks are found in the region with evidence to suggest a variation of metamorphic activity between regions from the strain center and the edges. The exhumation occurs in a circular area with young, high-grade decompression melts focused in the center. Around the outside of the focus rubidium to strontium ratios suggest melting with fluid present. The presence of fluid within melt has been modeled to occur as a result of immense precipitation allowing water to penetrate into shallow crustal rocks over long periods of time. Ages and barometric regimes of the rocks were used to calculate the volume of overburden removed, which was used to determine 3 millimeters of annual incision over the last 10 million years. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33737566 | 2,169,473 |
701,886 | Historically, reforested mining sites have been characterized by seedling mortality, slow growth and poor production. Challenges associated with returning forests to their pre-mining state enabled grassland conversion to become standard. The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI), established in 2004, works to promote the growth of hardwood trees on reclaimed mining sites. The ARRI operates utilizing the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA). In an effort to apply specific forest restoration practices, the FRA focuses on five main reclamation components: (1) establish suitable soil deeper than four feet to enhance root growth, (2) ensure non-compacted topsoil is present, (3) plan vegetative ground cover to support tree growth (4) include tree species that support local wildlife, as well as commercially desired products, (5) ensure that proper planting techniques are utilized. This group also facilitates restoration efforts by educating and training members of the coal industry on their role in promoting and adopting effective management practices. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1685995 | 701,521 |
1,242,254 | Nova's partial success, combined with other experimental numbers, prompted Department of Energy to request a custom military ICF facility they called the "Laboratory Microfusion Facility" (LMF) that could achieve fusion yield between 100 and 1000 MJ. Based on the LASNEX computer models, it was estimated that LMF would require a driver of about 10 MJ, in spite of nuclear tests that suggested a higher power. Building such a device was within the state of the art, but would be expensive, on the order of $1 billion. LLNL returned a design with a 5 MJ 350 nm (UV) driver laser that would be able to reach about 200 MJ yield, which was enough to access the majority of the LMF goals. The program was estimated to cost about $600 million FY 1989 dollars, and an additional $250 million to upgrade it to a full 1000 MJ if needed, and would grow to well over $1 billion if LMF was to meet all of the goals the DOE asked for. Other labs also proposed their own LMF designs using other technologies. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2700382 | 1,241,582 |
87,964 | It was not until the middle of the 20th century that the wider medical community started to recognize and promote artificial ventilation in the form of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation combined with chest compressions as a key part of resuscitation following cardiac arrest. The combination was first seen in a 1962 training video called "The Pulse of Life" created by James Jude, Guy Knickerbocker, and Peter Safar. Jude and Knickerbocker, along with William Kouwenhoven and Joseph S. Redding had recently discovered the method of external chest compressions, whereas Safar had worked with Redding and James Elam to prove the effectiveness of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The first effort at testing the technique was performed on a dog by Redding, Safar and JW Pearson. Soon afterward, the technique was used to save the life of a child. Their combined findings were presented at the annual Maryland Medical Society meeting on September 16, 1960, in Ocean City, and gained widespread acceptance over the following decade, helped by the video and speaking tour they undertook. Peter Safar wrote the book "ABC of Resuscitation" in 1957. In the U.S., it was first promoted as a technique for the public to learn in the 1970s. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66392 | 87,929 |
1,563,827 | From the late Devonian to the end of the Permian ending in the Paleozoic era the Variscan Orogeny occurred. The super continents of Gondwanaland and Laurussia collided creating an extensive mountain range just east of the pre-existing Caledonian mountains and creating Pangea the super continent at the end of the Variscan phase. The collision of these plates plays an important role in the potential of hydrocarbons in the Southern North Sea basin. The start of this phase is the collapsing of the Caledonian orogeny and a general extensional regime which would cause a depression to fill with sediment. There are four major phases in this orogenic event. First phase known as the Bretonian reflected in changes in the sediment input and the reactivation of a south plunging subduction zone. The second phase, the Sudetian, was of volcanic event and extrusive metamorphic and igneous rocks with uplift and mild folding of grabens in the vicinity which lead to inversion. The Asturian tectonic phase created fragmentation of the Variscans and its foreland due to the complex fault system of conjugate shear faults and secondary extensional faults. The last major phase, the Staphanian, caused the majority of faulting and deformation expressed in wrench faults. The accumulation of hydrocarbons in the south was permitted due to the basin that was formed, the foreland basin was barely disturbed by tectonic events in the northern region and eventually sealed up by the salt caps of the Zechstein formation. Since the Caledonian and Variscan orogeny are closely related in time both events helped create Pangea and the Caledonians slowly phase into the Variscan orogeny. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=45343728 | 1,562,940 |
2,087,034 | From the InSAR side, signal delay caused by variations of tropospheric properties in space and time is the source of major challenges for InSAR technique. In other words, tropospheric perturbation, caused by the differences in relative humidity, temperature, and pressure in the lower part of the troposphere between two acquisitions, can lead to additional noise in form of fringes up to 15–20 cm on interferograms. The atmospheric noise on InSAR results can include a wide range of wavelengths (short to long). Long wavelength errors, usually seen as a ramp (like a trend) in interferograms, are caused by changing the weather system in the study area very smoothly between two SAR images. Since this noise is similar to orbital ramp error and solid earth tides, detecting that in an interferogram is complicated. On the other hand, rapidly changing weather in a small area can cause artefact signals that correlate with topography because water vapour variation in surface and altitudes is different. Moreover, a rain cloud in a small region can generate a turbulence error which would be visible like uplift or subsidence on interferogram. Overall, the tropospheric error on interferogram can be classified into space and time: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=71698021 | 2,085,832 |
1,733,903 | After the Balfour declaration by Great Britain in 1917 and the award of the mandate to Palestine by the League of Nations to Britain, the Jewish Agency established in 1921 the Agricultural Experiment Station. Their mission was to conduct research leading to small farms with intensive agriculture, specializing in mixed farming of fruit trees, cattle, chicken, vegetables and cereals. The research station, headed by I. Elazari-Volcani and located in Rehovot, was the first scientific institute in Palestine. It had departments for crop sciences, fruit and citrus, soil and irrigation, entomology and plant pathology, post-harvest, food technology and farm economics. The station had an extension department and results of its research were quickly passed on to the farmers. Yields of grain under dryland conditions increased from 600 to 5000 kg per hectare; and breeding and selection of cattle increased milk production from 800–1500 kg to 5000 kg/cow/year (1950) {now more than 11.000 kg/cow/year- 2005}. Research in storage of citrus fruit reduced spoilage during shipping to Europe due to fungal rots from 30% to 2-3%. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6570637 | 1,732,926 |
1,701,559 | Histidine kinases (HK) are multifunctional, and in non-animal kingdoms, typically transmembrane, proteins of the transferase class of enzymes that play a role in signal transduction across the cellular membrane. The vast majority of HKs are homodimers that exhibit autokinase, phosphotransfer, and phosphatase activity. HKs can act as cellular receptors for signaling molecules in a way analogous to tyrosine kinase receptors (RTK). Multifunctional receptor molecules such as HKs and RTKs typically have portions on the outside of the cell (extracellular domain) that bind to hormone- or growth factor-like molecules, portions that span the cell membrane (transmembrane domain), and portions within the cell (intracellular domain) that contain the enzymatic activity. In addition to kinase activity, the intracellular domains typically have regions that bind to a secondary effector molecule or complex of molecules that further propagate signal transduction within the cell. Distinct from other classes of protein kinases, HKs are usually parts of a two-component signal transduction mechanisms in which HK transfers a phosphate group from ATP to a histidine residue within the kinase, and then to an aspartate residue on the receiver domain of a response regulator protein (or sometimes on the kinase itself). More recently, the widespread existence of protein histidine phosphorylation distinct from that of two-component histidine kinases has been recognised in human cells. In marked contrast to Ser, Thr and Tyr phosphorylation, the analysis of phosphorylated Histidine using standard biochemical and mass spectrometric approaches is much more challenging, and special procedures and separation techniques are required for their preservation alongside classical Ser, Thr and Tyr phosphorylation on proteins isolated from human cells. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14678550 | 1,700,604 |
1,285,716 | In military aviation, the fast all-metal monoplane emerged slowly. During the 1920s the high-wing parasol monoplane vied with the traditional biplane. It was not until the arrival of the American Boeing P-26 Peashooter in 1932 — nearly fifteen years after the first low-wing fighter to enter limited military service, the all-metal airframe Junkers D.I had entered service with the "Luftstreitkräfte" in 1918 — that the low-wing monoplane began to gain favour, reaching its classic form in such designs. These were pioneered in late 1933 by the Soviet Union with the Polikarpov I-16 fighter, powered initially with an American Wright Cyclone nine-cylinder radial engine. Within only a few years after the I-16's first flights, the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 of 1935 and the British Supermarine Spitfire of 1936 were also flying, powered by new and powerful liquid-cooled vee-twelve engines respectively from Daimler-Benz and Rolls-Royce. The rotary engines common in the First World War quickly fell out of favour, being replaced by more powerful stationary air-cooled radial engines such as the Pratt and Whitney Wasp series. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5887363 | 1,285,015 |
1,849,738 | In 1981 Horn had visited Stanford University, where he met Andy Bechtolsheim, inventor of the Stanford University Network (SUN) workstation, and Bill Joy, and when they later went on to co-found Sun Microsystems, he began to talk to fellow academics about starting their own venture. Eventually, in 1991, Horn, Sean Baker and Annrai O’Toole, all then academics in the Department of Computer Science at TCD, put in each to found IONA Technologies. The company aimed to produce object-oriented software, specifically seeing a market demand for middleware. IONA received limited support from Trinity College, including an office in a TCD innovation centre on Westland Row. Horn took up the role of CEO, and was also the lead architect for at least one major product. The agreement with Trinity College did allow for Horn and one of his colleagues to work part-time for 2–3 years after launching IONA. The firm's main object-oriented middleware software product, Orbix, was successful. The company, which did not raise angel or venture capital, but did have some IDA Ireland support, grew, and, after securing a 25% investment from Sun Microsystems in 1993, was able to float on the NASDAQ, achieving the fifth largest debut on that exchange to date. At peak the company reached a market valuation of . Horn sold a substantial tranche of shares in 1998. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=67405247 | 1,848,680 |
1,017,858 | As part of this update, officially known as the TJ MY02 series, side impact bars previously fitted only to export models were also introduced for Australian market cars, and the front doors now featured energy absorbing material. The Magna Executive received ABS and power windows as standard, while the Advance, Sports and VR-X were each fitted with a six speaker sound system (up from four), automatic climate control, front map lamps, glove box lamp and power antenna. The Verada Xi's electric sunroof with front map lamps and C pillar courtesy lamps was now optional on all models. The Sports was further distanced from the VR-X by no longer sharing the same boot lid spoiler, but a smaller version (which became another optional accessory across the Magna range, and was fitted as standard on subsequent limited-run models, the Verada GTV and Diamante VR-X). Power for the standard (non "high output") 3.5-litre V6 engine increased to thanks to a higher compression ratio and a Karman Vortex airflow meter. The instrument cluster now had an integrated odometer and trip meter, as opposed to the previous analogue setup. The above engine power increase also interested the Verada range. Moreover, the Ei was now fitted with a new chrome grille, while both the Ei and Xi received new design alloy-wheels and illuminated vanity mirrors. With this update all cars now had clear front turn bezels. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=903910 | 1,017,334 |
555,965 | With continuing experience, particularly on the upper continental slope in the Gulf of Mexico, the successful prediction of the presence of tubeworm communities continues to improve, however chemosynthetic communities cannot be reliably detected directly using geophysical techniques. Hydrocarbon seeps that allow chemosynthetic communities to exist do modify the geological characteristics in ways that can be remotely detected, but the time scales of co-occurring active seepage and the presence of living communities is always uncertain. These known sediment modifications include (1) precipitation of authigenic carbonate in the form of micronodules, nodules, or rock masses; (2) formation of gas hydrates; (3) modification of sediment composition through concentration of hard chemosynthetic organism remains (such as shell fragments and layers); (4) formation of interstitial gas bubbles or hydrocarbons; and (5) formation of depressions or pockmarks by gas expulsion. These features give rise to acoustic effects such as wipeout zones (no echoes), hard bottoms (strongly reflective echoes), bright spots (reflection enhanced layers), or reverberant layers (Behrens, 1988; Roberts and Neurauter, 1990). "Potential" locations for most types of communities can be determined by careful interpretation of these various geophysical modifications, but to date, the process remains imperfect and confirmation of living communities requires direct visual techniques. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=400223 | 555,676 |
1,411,417 | In 1995 the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy announced that it intended to resume the construction of Cuba’s reactors in 1998 with financing provided by an international consortium involving Siemens, Ansaldo and Électricité de France. However, the aforementioned companies dismissed the claims and it was reported that the announcement could have been part of a political stance against United States threat to cut aid to Russia. The United States opposition on the project discouraged other countries following the Helms–Burton Act, which continued and strengthened the United States embargo against Cuba. Estimates regarding the cost to finish the reactor ranged from $300 million to $750 million. In 1997 Fidel Castro announced that Cuba was no longer interested in finishing the plant and would be seeking other energy alternatives. In December 2000 Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Cuba and offered to finish one reactor by investing 800 million dollars over the course of six years. Castro subsequently announced that Cuba was no longer interested in completing the twin 440-megawatt reactor plant. This announcement was made amid the failed attempt to resolve the problem of Cuba’s debt to the former Soviet Union, inherited by Russia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16698665 | 1,410,624 |
1,119,755 | Widespread interest in ptychography only started after the first demonstration of iterative phase-retrieval X-ray ptychography in 2007 at the Swiss Light Source (SLS). Progress at X-ray wavelengths was then quick. By 2010, the SLS had developed X-ray ptychotomography, now a major application of the technique. Thibault, also working at the SLS, developed the difference-map (DM) iterative inversion algorithm and mixed-state ptychography. Since 2010, several groups have developed the capabilities of ptychography to characterize and improve reflective and refractive X-ray optics. Bragg ptychography, for measuring strain in crystals, was demonstrated by Hruszkewycz in 2012. In 2012 it was also shown that electron ptychography could improve on the resolution of an electron lens by a factor of five, a method which was used in 2018 to provide the highest-resolution transmission image ever obtained earning a Guinness world record, and once again in 2021 to achieve an even better resolution. Real-space light ptychography became available in a commercial system for live-cell imaging in 2013. Fourier ptychography using iterative methods was also demonstrated by Zheng et al. in 2013, a field which is growing rapidly. The group of Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn at JILA, CU Boulder demonstrated EUV reflection ptychographic imaging in 2014. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19397346 | 1,119,182 |
559,003 | The pair had started to fully explore ambient music after Hedberg's sister had picked up "Orgship" (1994) by Solar Quest, which quickly became a favourite of theirs and influenced the two to make similar music. The electronic bands The Future Sound of London and Boards of Canada were also a big influence on them; Segerstad called them "our role models". After initial tracks were put together still under their Notch moniker, the duo wished to explore the genre further by incorporating drone and chill out elements. This led to the formation of their own identity, Carbon Based Lifeforms, in 1996, initially as a side project from Notch. They named themselves after Notch's second demo album, and thought it fits "with our underlying themes of the combination of biology and technology, also it alludes to a lot of sci-fi concepts." The band had built an initial following as Notch, and a bigger one later as Carbon Based Lifeforms, on MP3.com and Last.fm, which earned the group money following radio airplay exposure. When Last.fm switched from Winamp to another media player, the band saw a boost in traffic which also increased their income. Much of their music from their early period relied on delay and filter effects, and simpler sounds than their later tracks. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11299765 | 558,714 |
520,773 | The species was originally described from Sweden as "Helvella mesenterica" by the naturalist Jacob Christian Schäffer in 1774. Valid description was provided by Anders Jahan Retzius in 1769. It was later (1822) sanctioned by Elias Magnus Fries in the second volume of his "Systema Mycologicum". It is the type species of the genus "Tremella". Its distinctive appearance has led the species to accumulate a variety of common names, including "yellow trembler", "yellow brain", "golden jelly fungus", and "witches' butter;" although this latter name is also applied to "Exidia glandulosa," its origin may stem from Swedish folklore surrounding witchcraft, in which a bile spewed up by thieving ""Carriers"" is referred to as, ""butter of the witches.""—They confessed also, that the devil gives them a beast, about the shape and bigness of a cat, which they call a carrier ; and he gives them a bird, too, as big as a raven, but white : And these creatures they can send any where and wherever they come, they take away all sorts of victuals they can get, as butter, cheese, milk, bacon, and all sorts of seeds, whatever they can find, and carry it to the witches. What the bird brings, they may keep for themselves : but what the carrier brings, they must reserve for the devil, and that is brought to Blockula, where he gives them of it as much as he thinks fit. —They added, that the carriers filled themselves so full oftentimes, that they are forced to spew by the way, which spewing is found in several gardens, where colworts grow, and not far from the houses of the witches. It is of a yellow colour like gold, and is called the butter of the witches.The specific epithet is a Latin adjective formed from the Ancient Greek word μεσεντεριον ("mesenterion"), "middle intestine", from μεσο- ("meso-", "middle, center") and εντερον ("enteron", "intestine"), referring to its shape. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3784638 | 520,502 |
525,727 | Standard 6-dot braille only provides 63 distinct characters (not including the space character), and thus, over the years a number of distinct rule-sets have been developed to represent literary text, mathematics, scientific material, computer software, the @ symbol used in email addresses, and other varieties of written material. Different countries also used differing encodings at various times: during the 1800s American Braille competed with English Braille and New York Point in the "War of the Dots". As a result of the expanding need to represent technical symbolism, and divergence during the past 100 years across countries, braille users who desired to read or write a large range of material have needed to learn different sets of rules, depending on what kind of material they were reading at a given time. Rules for a particular type of material were often not compatible from one system to the next (the rule-sets for literary/mathematical/computerized encoding-areas were sometimes conflicting—and of course differing approaches to encoding mathematics were not compatible with each other), so the reader would need to be notified as the text in a book moved from computer braille code for programming to Nemeth Code for mathematics to standard literary braille. Moreover, the braille rule-set used for math and computer science topics, and even to an extent braille for literary purposes, differed among various English-speaking countries. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1845709 | 525,454 |
338,935 | Optical holography needs a laser light to record the light field. In its early days, holography required high-power and expensive lasers, but currently, mass-produced low-cost laser diodes, such as those found on DVD recorders and used in other common applications, can be used to make holograms and have made holography much more accessible to low-budget researchers, artists and dedicated hobbyists. A microscopic level of detail throughout the recorded scene can be reproduced. The 3D image can, however, be viewed with non-laser light. In common practice, however, major image quality compromises are made to remove the need for laser illumination to view the hologram, and in some cases, to make it. Holographic portraiture often resorts to a non-holographic intermediate imaging procedure, to avoid the dangerous high-powered pulsed lasers which would be needed to optically "freeze" moving subjects as perfectly as the extremely motion-intolerant holographic recording process requires. Holograms can now also be entirely computer-generated to show objects or scenes that never existed. Most holograms produced are of static objects but systems for displaying changing scenes on a holographic volumetric display are now being developed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66338 | 338,755 |
505,711 | In March 2021, 17 students were accused of cheating on remote exams held during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following an audit by university technical teams, the students were alleged to have accessed content related to exam questions using the university's learning management system, Canvas. Students, faculty, and independent technical experts called the university's claims into question, citing automated logging of activity by Canvas and inconsistencies in the criteria used to identify cheating, including access to pages unrelated to exam questions. Seven of the cases were quickly dropped following these complaints, but the university affirmed its position in the other cases and emphasized their commitment to academic honesty. In response, a group of students protested outside the office of Geisel Dean Duane Compton while several faculty members signed a letter condemning the audits for creating a culture of mistrust. Following a software review by The New York Times, the medical school dropped the cheating charges against the remaining ten students. In June, Compton released a statement that the school had apologized to the students and would review its honor code review process to ensure fairness in future cases, but further details were not revealed to protect the privacy of the students involved. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=981603 | 505,448 |
958,004 | The XM25 began as an offshoot of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program that started in the late 1990s. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory was the technical lead for the Program Manager Soldier Weapons, who worked on the development of the XM25 25 mm individual air burst weapon system. The system was designed to enhance the capability of individual Soldiers to defeat targets in defilade. The XM25 had been utilized in Afghanistan with support from ARL personnel involved in training Soldiers, enabling and evaluating XM25 combat tactical integration, and collecting data for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase of the contract. The XM25 design included hardware modifications to improve reliability, weight, and fire control lasers optimized to increase range performance against targets out to 2,000 meters away. Additional modifications addressed weapon ergonomics including butt-plate configuration, rear bolt buffer housing and recoil optimization. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1608120 | 957,498 |
1,568,828 | After returning to Berkeley, Kamen met two Russian officials at a party given by his friend, the violinist Isaac Stern, whom he sometimes accompanied as a viola player in social evenings of chamber music. The Russians were Grigory Kheifets and Grigory Kasparov, posted as undercover KGB officers in the Soviet Union's San Francisco consulate. One of them asked Kamen for assistance in getting in touch with Radlab scientist John H. Lawrence about an experimental radiation treatment for a colleague with leukemia (Commander Kalinin of the Russian Navy, under treatment at the United States Navy Hospital in Seattle, Washington). Kamen put them in contact, and in appreciation he was invited for dinner at a local restaurant. FBI agents observed the dinner, on July 1, 1944, took a photograph of the men together, and submitted a report alleging Kamen to have discussed atomic research with Kheifets. In a memorandum of July 11, 1944, Army officials ordered Lawrence to have Martin Kamen dismissed from his Berkeley position and his work on the Manhattan Project on suspicion of being a “security risk.” There was no hearing or method of appeal. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=146252 | 1,567,941 |
136,304 | Chandrasekhar was tutored at home until the age of 12. In middle school his father taught him mathematics and physics and his mother taught him Tamil. He later attended the Hindu High School, Triplicane, Madras during the years 1922–25. Subsequently, he studied at Presidency College, Madras (affiliated to the University of Madras) from 1925 to 1930, writing his first paper, "The Compton Scattering and the New Statistics", in 1929 after being inspired by a lecture by Arnold Sommerfeld. He obtained his bachelor's degree, BSc (Hon.), in physics, in June 1930. In July 1930, Chandrasekhar was awarded a Government of India scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the University of Cambridge, where he was admitted to Trinity College, secured by R. H. Fowler with whom he communicated his first paper. During his travels to England, Chandrasekhar spent his time working out the statistical mechanics of the degenerate electron gas in white dwarf stars, providing relativistic corrections to Fowler's previous work (see Legacy below). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=145319 | 136,249 |
2,170,869 | As autoimmunity and organ transplant rejection are inextricably linked to T-cell activation and differentiation, it is apposite that T-cells are the primary target of modern tolerance induction strategies. Current strategies for the treatment of T-cell mediated pathologies employ long-term, broad immunosuppressive drugs, which are moderately effective in limiting T-cell responses but carry unfavorable side effects, such as organ toxicity, risk of infection, and cancer. Due to the adverse risks associated with immunosuppressive drugs, it became apparent that the ideal strategy would be antigen-specific: a therapy that was able to inhibit the antigen-specific T-cell response, but would still leave the remainder of the immune system intact to defend against infection. These strategies employed the use of soluble peptide tolerance and oral peptide tolerance to great efficacy in experimental settings, however, all have failed to translate into the clinic. One reason for the failure of these strategies is that T-cell mediated organ destruction is now understood to be a complex event involving epitope spreading to multiple tissue-specific antigens and cryptic epitopes. Thus, at any given stage of disease or rejection, the T-cell response is likely to be heterogenic, involving multiple TCR specificities, leading to difficulties in prescribing the antigen, dosing, and timing of administration required to induce tolerance. While antigen-specific tolerance induction is an attractive strategy, it's limited by a lack of knowledge, and because of its stringent requirements, a slightly broader approach is more practical. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28353188 | 2,169,631 |
1,792,133 | Dentists are at the top of the working groups who have a high risk of exposure to COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, remains stable in aerosols for several hours. The Virus is viable for hours in aerosols and for few days on surfaces, hence the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is feasible through aerosols and also shows fomite transmission. Due to the close proximity of the dental health care workers to the patients, dental procedures involving aerosol production is not advisable in patients who tested positive for COVID-19. On March 16, 2020, the American Dental Association advised dentists to postpone all elective procedures. It also developed guidance specific to address dental services during the COVID-19 pandemic. A review of issues implicated in the re-opening of dental services (practice preparation, personal protective equipment, management of the clinical area, dental procedures, and cleaning and disinfection) indicated that patient triage by telephone is recommended by several research groups, while some recommend also temperature screening at reception. Most guidance recommend avoiding aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs), and surgical masks for non-COVID-19 cases not requiring AGPs. Treating non-COVID-19 cases undergoing AGPs and all suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases undergoing any procedure should be done by professionals who are wearing filtering facepiece class 2 (FFP2, equivalent to N95) masks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US discussed guidance in a June 3, 2020 webinar. A caveat is that across sources, some of the guidance lacks strong (or any) research evidence. On August 28, 2020 the CDC updated its Guidance for Dental Settings During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic. On February 16, 2020, the California Dental Association, in response to updated CDC guidelines for wearing masks, advised dental teams to continue following PPE recommendations that are specific to dental offices. Several association also indicated the need to examine the efficiency of source controls methods, in particular, dental evacuation systems. These systems can capture potentially harmful aerosols directly at the mouth of the patient before the aerosol can enter ambient air and subsequently be inhaled by nearby dental personnel, patients, or others, immediately or hours later. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56331432 | 1,791,126 |
1,214,021 | By 1943 "Dolphin" was thoroughly worn out and badly in need of a modernization. Her age and basic limitations argued against the time-consuming and costly work, so for most of 1943 she was used in training operations at Pearl Harbor. A shipyard inspection showed that she was suffering badly from rusting and corrosion inside her tanks, in some cases structural members were found rusted completely through. With newer submarines now available for offensive war patrols and not willing to delay work on newer boats at Pearl Harbor, "Dolphin" was assigned less dramatic but still vital service on training duty until 29 January 1944, when she sailed for exercises in the Canal Zone. She then sailed for Portsmouth Navy Yard where she was given patch repairs only, with her operating depth reduced to 150 feet. "Dolphin" was then assigned duty as a school boat at Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, where she arrived on 6 March. She served in this essential task until the end of the war, then was decommissioned on 12 October 1945 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=207419 | 1,213,369 |
951,468 | A 2001 study comparing the populations of Mediterranean Europe and Turkic-speaking peoples of Central Asia estimated the Central Asian genetic contribution to current Anatolian Y-chromosome loci (one binary and six short tandem repeat) and mitochondrial DNA gene pool to be roughly 30%. A 2004 high-resolution SNP analysis of Y-chromosomal DNA in samples collected from blood banks, sperm banks, and university students in eight regions of Turkey found evidence for a weak but detectable signal (<9%) of recent paternal gene flow from Central Asia. A 2006 study concluded that the true Central Asian contributions to Anatolia was 13% for males and 22% for females (with wide ranges of confidence intervals), and the language replacement in Turkey and might not have been in accordance with the elite dominance model. It was later observed that the male contribution from Central Asia to the Turkish population with reference to the Balkans was 13%. For all non-Turkic speaking populations, the Central Asian contribution was higher than in Turkey. According to the study, "the contributions ranging between 13%–58% must be considered with a caution because they harbor uncertainties about the state of pre-nomadic invasion and further local movements." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27234935 | 950,963 |
130,909 | Prior to World War 2, the only practical sources of radiation for radiotherapy were radium, its "emanation", radon gas, and the X-ray tube. External beam radiotherapy (teletherapy) began at the turn of the century with relatively low voltage (<150 kV) X-ray machines. It was found that while superficial tumors could be treated with low voltage X-rays, more penetrating, higher energy beams were required to reach tumors inside the body, requiring higher voltages. Orthovoltage X-rays, which used tube voltages of 200-500 kV, began to be used during the 1920s. To reach the most deeply buried tumors without exposing intervening skin and tissue to dangerous radiation doses required rays with energies of 1 MV or above, called "megavolt" radiation. Producing megavolt X-rays required voltages on the X-ray tube of 3 to 5 million volts, which required huge expensive installations. Megavoltage X-ray units were first built in the late 1930s but because of cost were limited to a few institutions. One of the first, installed at St. Bartholomew's hospital, London in 1937 and used until 1960, used a 30 foot long X-ray tube and weighed 10 tons. Radium produced megavolt gamma rays, but was extremely rare and expensive due to its low occurrence in ores. In 1937 the entire world supply of radium for radiotherapy was 50 grams, valued at £800,000, or $50 million in 2005 dollars. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26350 | 130,857 |
684,699 | Coniine is a poisonous chemical compound, an alkaloid present in and isolable from poison hemlock ("Conium maculatum"), where its presence has been a source of significant economic, medical, and historico-cultural interest; coniine is also produced by the yellow pitcher plant ("Sarracenia flava"), and fool's parsley ("Aethusa cynapium"). Its ingestion and extended exposure are toxic to humans and all classes of livestock; its mechanism of poisoning involves disruption of the central nervous system, with death caused by respiratory paralysis. The biosynthesis of coniine contains as its penultimate step the non-enzymatic cyclisation of 5-oxooctylamine to γ-coniceine, a Schiff base differing from coniine only by its carbon-nitrogen double bond in the ring. This pathway results in natural coniine that is a mixture—a racemate—composed of two enantiomers, the stereoisomers ("S")-(+)-coniine and ("R")-(−)-coniine, depending on the direction taken by the chain that branches from the ring. Both enantiomers are toxic, with the ("R")-enantiomer being the more biologically active and toxic of the two in general. Coniine holds a place in organic chemistry history as being the first of the important class of alkaloids to be synthesized, by Albert Ladenburg in 1886, and it has been synthesized in the laboratory in a number of unique ways through to modern times. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=603468 | 684,342 |
940,219 | On 5 September 1939 the Cipher Bureau began preparations to evacuate key personnel and equipment from Warsaw. Soon a special evacuation train, the Echelon F, transported them eastward, then south. By the time the Cipher Bureau was ordered to cross the border into allied Romania on 17 September, they had destroyed all sensitive documents and equipment and were down to a single very crowded truck. The vehicle was confiscated at the border by a Romanian officer, who separated the military from the civilian personnel. Taking advantage of the confusion, the three mathematicians ignored the Romanian's instructions. They anticipated that in an internment camp they might be identified by the Romanian security police, in which the German Abwehr and SD had informers. The mathematicians went to the nearest railroad station, exchanged money, bought tickets, and boarded the first train headed south. After a dozen or so hours, they reached Bucharest, at the other end of Romania. There they went to the British embassy. Told by the British to "come back in a few days", they next tried the French embassy, introducing themselves as "friends of Bolek" (Bertrand's Polish code name) and asking to speak with a French military officer. A French Army colonel telephoned Paris and then issued instructions for the three Poles to be assisted in evacuating to Paris. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4349420 | 939,718 |
94,519 | In humans, cells with location-specific firing patterns have been reported during a study of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. They were undergoing an invasive procedure to localize the source of their seizures, with a view to surgical resection. The patients had diagnostic electrodes implanted in their hippocampus and then used a computer to move around in a virtual reality town. Similar brain imaging studies in navigation have shown the hippocampus to be active. A study was carried out on taxi drivers. London's black cab drivers need to learn the locations of a large number of places and the fastest routes between them in order to pass a strict test known as The Knowledge in order to gain a license to operate. A study showed that the posterior part of the hippocampus is larger in these drivers than in the general public, and that a positive correlation exists between the length of time served as a driver and the increase in the volume of this part. It was also found the total volume of the hippocampus was unchanged, as the increase seen in the posterior part was made at the expense of the anterior part, which showed a relative decrease in size. There have been no reported adverse effects from this disparity in hippocampal proportions. Another study showed opposite findings in blind individuals. The anterior part of the right hippocampus was larger and the posterior part was smaller, compared with sighted individuals. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=53948 | 94,478 |
773,694 | Sweet chestnut is suited for human nutrition. Most sweet chestnut is consumed in processed form, which has an impact on the nutrient composition. Its naturally high concentration of organic acids is a key factor influencing the organoleptic characteristics of fruits and vegetables, namely flavor. Organic acids are thought to play an important role against diseases as an antioxidant. Heat appears to be the most influencing factor when it comes to decreasing the organic acid content. However, even after heating sweet chestnuts, antioxidant activity remains relatively high. On the other hand, the consumer must consider that roasting, boiling or frying has a big impact on the nutritional profile of chestnut. Vitamin C significantly decreases between 25 and 54% when boiled and 2–77 % when roasted. Nevertheless, roasted or boiled chestnuts may still be a solid vitamin C source, since 100 gram still represent about 20% of the recommended daily dietary intake. The sugar content is also affected by the high temperatures. Four processes are decisive for the degrading process of sugar while cooking: hydrolysis of starch to oligosaccharide and monosaccharide, decomposition of sucrose to glucose and fructose, caramelization of sugars and degradation of sugars. Organic acids are also affected by high temperatures: their content decreases about 50% after frying, and 15% after boiling. Responsible for the aromatic characteristics of cooked chestnuts is the effect of degradation of saccharides, proteins and lipids, the caramelization of saccharides and the maillard reaction that is reducing sugar and amino acids. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=437956 | 773,278 |
575,222 | STScI is responsible for developing, enhancing, and maintaining most of the ground systems used to carry out our Hubble science operations described above. These systems originally (1980s, early 1990s) came from several sources, including in-house STScI developments and work done under NASA contracts with various vendors. Over HST's lifetime substantial work has been done on these systems - even while they were supporting daily operations of Hubble. They have been integrated into a more effective and easier to operate end-to-end system. They have been through major technology upgrades (e.g., improved operating systems and computer hardware, higher capacity archive storage media). They have also been modified to support the succession of instruments installed in the telescope. In the last several years, they have been modified to support WFC3 and COS, the two new instruments that will be installed during the next HST servicing mission, and to support the 2-Gyroscope mode of HST operations. STScI also provides subsets of ground system services to other astronomy missions, including FUSE, Kepler, and JWST. STScI's software engineers maintain about 7,900,000 source lines of code. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=177098 | 574,928 |
278,077 | The student takes the master's degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (equivalent to the PharmD program) in one of the nine Pharmacy faculties with their own respective numerous clausus which comprises a six-year rigorous study (5 with the uniformities in EU teaching). Finished the degree, the academic title of Doctor of Pharmacy is issued. The graduate can then enroll in the regulatory institution for the Pharmacist profession in Portugal called, "Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society" or, in Portuguese, "Ordem dos Farmacêuticos". After the enrollment, the title of Pharmacist is issued. Afterwards, Pharmacists can start their career in a limitless number of professional areas that range from community pharmacies, drug development, fundamental or applied research, biotechnology to areas such as forensic sciences, toxicology, regulatory affairs, clinical analysis, law enforcement (scientific police), bromatology, drug marketing, regulatory authorities, university teachers, etc. The Pharmacists can also choose to become a specialist in one of following areas of activity: Pharmaceutical Industry, Regulatory Affairs, Hospital Pharmacy, and Clinical Analysis. Each specialization requires an additional 5-year professional study program guided by a tutor in the respective area of knowledge. This training includes regular evaluations by the professional competent authority ("Ordem dos Farmacêuticos"), which also requires an exam at the end of the 5-year training. After the success at the exam, the Pharmacist then becomes a specialist in its area of expertise. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=707762 | 277,927 |
1,642,763 | The main precursor to the faculty was the Central Technical College, which was founded by the City and Guilds of London Institute, opening in 1884. The institute was founded after a meeting at Mansion House by the city livery companies in July, 1876. The Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone for the college in 1881, who returned to open the new building. The college was located in South Kensington on land bought by the 1851 Exhibition Commissioners, in an area set out by Prince Albert for the purpose of science and knowledge, known now as Albertopolis. The building was built by Alfred Waterhouse. The college was set to focus on engineering, manufacturing, architecture, applied art, and chemical technology, with applicants required to sit entrance exams. The college was granted permission to award the Associateship of the City and Guilds Institute, which the faculty still awards, although it was unable to award university degrees. Amongst the first appointed professors in 1884 were William Unwin to engineering and Henry Armstrong to chemical technology. The name changed to Central Technical College in 1893, by which time the number of chemistry and engineering students exceeded 200, requiring other subjects to be displaced. In 1900, the college became of school of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of London. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26242551 | 1,641,836 |
999,405 | The group 8 elements show a distinctive oxide chemistry. All the lighter members have known or hypothetical tetroxides, MO. Their oxidizing power decreases as one descends the group. FeO is not known due to its extraordinarily large electron affinity—the amount of energy released when an electron is added to a neutral atom or molecule to form a negative ion—which results in the formation of the well-known oxyanion ferrate(VI), . Ruthenium tetroxide, RuO, which is formed by oxidation of ruthenium(VI) in acid, readily undergoes reduction to ruthenate(VI), . Oxidation of ruthenium metal in air forms the dioxide, RuO. In contrast, osmium burns to form the stable tetroxide, OsO, which complexes with the hydroxide ion to form an osmium(VIII) -"ate" complex, [OsO(OH)]. Therefore, hassium should behave as a heavier homologue of osmium by forming of a stable, very volatile tetroxide HsO, which undergoes complexation with hydroxide to form a hassate(VIII), [HsO(OH)]. Ruthenium tetroxide and osmium tetroxide are both volatile due to their symmetrical tetrahedral molecular geometry and because they are charge-neutral; hassium tetroxide should similarly be a very volatile solid. The trend of the volatilities of the group8 tetroxides is experimentally known to be RuO<OsO>HsO, which confirms the calculated results. In particular, the calculated enthalpies of adsorption—the energy required for the adhesion of atoms, molecules, or ions from a gas, liquid, or dissolved solid to a surface—of HsO, −(45.4±1)kJ/mol on quartz, agrees very well with the experimental value of −(46±2)kJ/mol. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13764 | 998,887 |
1,800,133 | Henry Edwards was born to Hannah and Thomas Edwards (c. 1794–1857) at Brook House in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, England, on 27 August 1827, and was christened on 14 September. From his older brother William, he picked up an interest in examining insects. He collected butterflies as a hobby, and studied them under the tutelage of Edward Doubleday. His solicitor father intended a law career for his son, but after a brief period of unsuccessful study, Edwards took a position at a counting house in London, and began acting in amateur theatre. He then journeyed to join his brother William who had settled in Australia, nine miles (14 km) north-west of Melbourne along the bank of Merri Creek, a location then called Merrivale. Aboard the sailing ship "Ganges" from March to June 1853, he wrote descriptions of creatures such as the albatross that he encountered for the first time. After arriving in Melbourne, Edwards began collecting and cataloguing the insects he found on his brother's land, and further afield. Within two years, he had gathered 1,676 species of insects, shot and mounted 200 birds, and pressed some 200 botanical specimens. This collection and that of William Kershaw were purchased by Frederick McCoy to form the nucleus of the new National Museum of Victoria. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23711726 | 1,799,124 |
682,780 | This field was formed largely based upon Luria's books and writings on neuropsychology integrated during his experiences during the war years and later periods. In the area of child neuropsychology, "The need for its creation was dictated by the fact that children with localized brain damage were found to reveal specific different features of dissolution of psychological functions. Under Luria's supervision, his colleague Simernitskaya began to study nonverbal (visual-spatial) and verbal functions, and demonstrated that damage to the left and right hemispheres provoked different types of dysfunctions in children than in adults. This study initiated a number of systematic investigations concerning changes in the localization of higher psychological functions during the process of development." Luria's general research was mostly centered on the treatment and rehabilitation "of speech, and observations concerning direct and spontaneous rehabilitation were generalized." Other areas involving "Luria's works have made a significant contribution in the sphere of rehabilitation of expressive and impressive speech (Tzvetkova, 1972), 1985), memory (Krotkova, 1982), intellectual activity (Tzvetkova, 1975), and personality (Glozman, 1987) in patients with localized brain damage." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=389738 | 682,424 |
1,726,532 | The isolation and the sequencing of "N. maritimuss genome have allowed to extend the insight into the physiology of the organisms belonging to the Nitrososphaerota group. "N. maritimus" was the first Archaeon with an ammonia oxidizing metabolism"' to be studied. This organism is common in the marine environment especially at the bottom of the photic zone where the amount of Ammonium and Iron is enough to support its growth. The physiology of "N. maritimus" remains unclear under certain aspects. It conserves energy for its vital functions, from the oxidation of Ammonia and the reduction of Oxygen, with the formation of Nitrite. is the carbon source. It is fixed and assimilated by the microorganism through the 3-hydroxypropinate/4-hydroxybutyrate carbon cycle. "N. maritimus" carries out the first step of Nitrification, by acting in a key role in the Nitrogen cycle along the water column. Since this oxidizing reaction releases just a little amount of energy, the growth of this microorganism is slow. "N. maritimus’"s genome includes the amoA gene, encoding for the Ammonia Monooxygenase (AMO) enzyme. This latter allows the oxidation of ammonia to hydroxylamine (NH2OH). Instead, the genome lacks the gene encoding for Hydroxylamine Oxidoreductase (HAO) responsible for oxidizing the intermediate (NH2OH) to nitrite. The hydroxylamine is produced as a metabolite, and it is immediately consumed during the metabolic reaction. Other intermediates produced during this metabolic pathway are: the nitric oxide (NO), the nitrous oxide (N2O), the nitoxyl (HNO). These are toxic at high concentration. The enzyme responsible for oxidizing the hydroxylamine to nitrite is not well-known yet. Two hypothesis are suggested for the metabolic pathway of "N. maritimus" that involve two types of enzymes : the copper-based enzyme (Cu-ME) and the nitrite reductase enzyme (nirK) and its reverse: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12918181 | 1,725,561 |
427,410 | Mathematically, this implies "n" < 1, because the rays follow the shortest path and hence in theory create a perfect concealment. In practice, a certain amount of acceptable visibility occurs, as noted above. The range of the refractive index of the dielectric (optical material) needs to be across a wide spectrum to achieve concealment, with the illusion created by wave propagation across empty space. These places where "n" < 1 would be the shortest path for the ray around the object without phase distortion. Artificial propagation of empty space could be reached in the microwave-to-terahertz range. In stealth technology, impedance matching could result in absorption of beamed electromagnetic waves rather than reflection, hence, evasion of detection by radar. These general principles can also be applied to sound waves, where the index "n" describes the ratio of the local phase velocity of the wave to the bulk value. Hence, it would be useful to protect a space from any sound sourced detection. This also implies protection from sonar. Furthermore, these general principles are applicable in diverse fields such as electrostatics, fluid mechanics, classical mechanics, and quantum chaos. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25560578 | 427,200 |
629,389 | At the request of the French Air Staff, the French aircraft company SNCASO also developed its own point defence interceptor, the SNCASO Trident. It was primarily powered by a single SEPR-built rocket engine and augmented with a set of wing-tip mounted turbojet engines; operationally, both rocket and turbojet engines were to be used to perform a rapid climb and interception at high altitudes, while the jet engines alone would be used to return to base. On 2 March 1953, the first prototype Trident I conducted the type's maiden flight; flown by test pilot Jacques Guignard, the aircraft used the entire length of the runway to get airborne, being powered only by its turbojet engines. On 1 September 1953, second Trident I prototype crashed during its first flight after struggling to gain altitude after takeoff and colliding with an electricity pylon. Despite the loss, the French Air Force were impressed by the Trident's performance and were keen to have an improved model into service. On 21 May 1957, the first Trident II, "001", was destroyed during a test flight out of "Centre d'Essais en Vol" (Flight Test Center); caused when highly volatile rocket fuel and oxidiser, Furaline ( CHNO) and Nitric acid (HNO) respectively, accidentally mixed and exploded, resulting in the death of test pilot Charles Goujon. Two months later, all work was halted on the programme. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=977522 | 629,051 |
631,691 | An autosomal recessive disorder of sex development, described as pseudovaginal perineoscrotal hypospadias (PPSH), was discovered in males in 1961. The main feature of this syndrome was female appearing external genitalia with the presence of bilateral testes and male urogenital tracts in which the ejaculatory ducts terminate in a blind-ending vagina. This disorder was consistent with 5αR2D as the underlying cause as observed in animal models. 5αR2D was confirmed as the cause in humans in 1974, when studies of 24 participants in the Dominican Republic and 2 in Dallas Texas, USA. One of the cases in Dallas began to virilize at puberty and underwent surgery to remove testes and "repair" the apparent clitoromegaly. During surgery, a normal male urogenital tract was observed as well as other features consistent with PPSH. DHT was almost undetectable in cultured fibroblasts from foreskin, epididymis and the presumed "labia majora" whereas in normal males DHT is detected, suggesting impaired DHT formation. Similar conclusions were obtained for participants in a family in the Dominican Republic study in whom high serum concentration ratios of T to DHT and low concentrations of urinary 5a-reduced androgens were observed. This disorder is now known to be due to homozygous or compound heterozygous loss-of-function mutations of the SRD5A2 gene. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36202 | 631,353 |
597,598 | Studies concerning transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in plants have been reported as early as the 1950s. One of the earliest and best characterized examples of this is b1 paramutation in maize. The b1 gene encodes a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor that is involved in the anthocyanin production pathway. When the b1 gene is expressed, the plant accumulates anthocyanin within its tissues, leading to a purple coloration of those tissues. The B-I allele (for B-Intense) has high expression of b1 resulting in the dark pigmentation of the sheath and husk tissues while the B' (pronounced B-prime) allele has low expression of b1 resulting in low pigmentation in those tissues. When homozygous B-I parents are crossed to homozygous B', the resultant F1 offspring all display low pigmentation which is due to gene silencing of b1. Unexpectedly, when F1 plants are self-crossed, the resultant F2 generation all display low pigmentation and have low levels of b1 expression. Furthermore, when any F2 plant (including those that are genetically homozygous for B-I) are crossed to homozygous B-I, the offspring will all display low pigmentation and expression of b1. The lack of darkly pigmented individuals in the F2 progeny is an example of non-Mendelian inheritance and further research has suggested that the B-I allele is converted to B' via epigenetic mechanisms. The B' and B-I alleles are considered to be epialleles because they are identical at the DNA sequence level but differ in the level of DNA methylation, siRNA production, and chromosomal interactions within the nucleus. Additionally, plants defective in components of the RNA-directed DNA-methylation pathway show an increased expression of b1 in B' individuals similar to that of B-I, however, once these components are restored, the plant reverts to the low expression state. Although spontaneous conversion from B-I to B' has been observed, a reversion from B' to B-I (green to purple) has never been observed over 50 years and thousands of plants in both greenhouse and field experiments. s | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31182307 | 597,293 |
2,070,992 | Gianola was born in Montevideo on 16 May 1947. His father, Gorgias Gianola, was an MIT graduate in mechanical engineering as well as a musician; his mother, Alondra Barberia (known as Alondra Alzua), was a producer of television and radio programs in Uruguay. Gianola spent long periods at the family farm in Melo, Uruguay, and his grandfather (Antonio Gianola, the first livestock auctioneer in Uruguay) was influential in his choice of agricultural science as a career. After graduating in agricultural engineering from Universidad de la Republica at 23 years of age, Gianola moved to the USA to pursue postgraduate studies (MS and Ph.D degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1973 and 1975, working with Professors W. J. Tyler and A. B. Chapman, respectively). He also studied for one year at Cornell University, where he was taught by Professors Charles Henderson, L. D. Van Vleck and Shayle R. Searle. In 1975-1977 he worked for the World Bank as a population and livestock specialist. From 1978 to 1991 he worked as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor (1981) and Professor (1987) in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Gianola became Professor (1991) in the Department of Animal Sciences and Department of Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he is now Sewall Wright Emeritus Professor of Animal Breeding and Genetics. He was also affiliated with the Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Daniel Gianola is married with the Uruguayan lawyer Graciela Margall and has two children (Magdalena and Daniel Santiago). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56448818 | 2,069,801 |
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