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2,200,412 | Based on sequencing data, "M. hakonensis" contains the gene for maleylacetate reductase, a key component in biological degradation of halogenated aromatic organic compounds. Based on recent studies, halogenated aromatic compounds have become a pollutant of food products. Other benzene derivatives have been known to pollute many environments including the air; these compounds are known as BTEX pollutants. The study of the gene for and enzyme maleylacetate reductase can play a role in control of future pollution by aromatic organic compounds. Sequencing data of "M. hakonensis" also revealed the presence of the gene for Urease, a common virulence factor found in gastro-pathogenic bacteria such as "Helicobacter pylori", a common infection causing about 14,500 deaths per year. Urease catalyzes the degradation of urea to ammonia and bicarbonate, increasing the pH of the stomach, which allows for survival and manifestation of the pathogens. Recent studies have revealed that Urease also plays a role in fungal virulence, found in organisms such as "C. neoformans" and "Co. posadasii." Urease causes a shift in immune response from a Type 1 (T1 cells) immune response to a Type 2 (T2 cells) immune response, reducing the ability of the host immune response to prevent infection. The knockout of Urease has also proven to decrease virulence capabilities of the fungi. With its wide role in both fungal and bacterial infections, Urease has become an emerging target for current pharmaceutical advancements. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54639041 | 2,199,160 |
899,737 | Current association studies have focused on common variation across the genome, as these are the easiest to identify with our current assays. However, disease-causing variants of large effect have been found to lie within exomes in candidate gene studies, and because of negative selection, are found in much lower allele frequencies and may remain untyped in current standard genotyping assays. Whole genome sequencing is a potential method to assay novel variant across the genome. However, in complex disorders (such as autism), a large number of genes are thought to be associated with disease risk. This heterogeneity of underlying risk means that very large sample sizes are required for gene discovery, and thus whole genome sequencing is not particularly cost-effective. This sample size issue is alleviated by the development of novel advanced analytic methods, which effectively map disease genes despite the genetic mutations are rare at variant level. In addition, variants in coding regions have been much more extensively studied and their functional implications are much easier to derive, making the practical applications of variants within the targeted exome region more immediately accessible. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26418006 | 899,262 |
2,048,795 | Returning to Habsburg Hungary, he was appointed as a military engineer. Soon after, in the 1770s, he abandoned military service to become a civil engineer working for the Hofkammer, the main financial institution of the Habsburg monarchy. His first duty was regulating the water level of the Danube near Bratislava. He later transferred to the outskirts of Vienna. Records mention him as a clerk of the Hofkammer around 1780. In 1782, Joseph II initiated a migration from the southeastern regions of Germany to the area surrounding the Podunavlje, hoping to provide a stable economic situation for the migrating German population. At the same time, Kiss first arrived in Vojvodina. However, a serious water supply problem arose and threatened the migration efforts; the southern edge of the Telek Highlands were covered with morasses, marshes and bogs, and east of Vrbas lay the "Crna bara" (English: "black pools"), a water catchment area. Those areas were natural habitats for malaria-bearing mosquitoes. Much of the migrating population became infected, which seriously hampered settlement efforts. This problem could be solved through drainage of the marshy areas, which would eliminate the mosquitoes' breeding grounds. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38475224 | 2,047,614 |
1,974,764 | In 1882, Forbes became manager of the British Electric Light Company, manufacturers of carbon filaments and arc lamps. He experimented with using carbon for the brushes in electric motors, rather than wire or gauze and in 1885 took out a patent for the "Improved Means for Establishing Electric Connection between Surfaces in Relative Motion Applicable to the Collectors of Dynamo Machines". This advocated carbon as a current collector for rotating electrical machines. The invention would prove outstandingly successful and it is in universal use in electricity generation to this day. He could have become a rich man with such an innovation but he sold his American patent rights to Westinghouse Electric for £2,000. There is no evidence that he received any UK royalties. In the obituary published in the Proceedings of the Philosophical Society, G. L. Addenbroke wrote that 'Forbes always referred to this work with much modesty, but there can be no doubt that, he presented to the World an idea of great engineering and commercial value, the importance of which he does not seem to have fully grasped at the time.' For another take on Forbes's "modesty" see Blackwood's Magazine, Vol. CLVIII, Pg. 430. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6637881 | 1,973,627 |
1,436,092 | After the release of the Terrigen Mist, Storm, Iceman and Magik have decided to leave the Westchester and establish X-Haven in the Limbo dimension. Their goal is to protect healthy mutants from the Terrigen and to provide safe care for mutants who were infected by it. Before leaving they try to recruit old friends: Colossus, living quietly in Russia; Nightcrawler, recently abducted; and Jean Grey, who is attending college. Jean initially refuses to join, but reveals that she has sensed Wolverine, who should be dead. Storm is successful in only recruiting Colossus, but as he and Magik go to investigate Nightcrawler's disappearance, they are abducted by the Marauders. Mister Sinister is experimenting on blending Inhuman DNA with Mutant DNA. He hopes that Magik's sorcery will be the key, since all previous experiments failed. When he knocks out Magik, the defenses for X-Haven fall apart and demons start attacking the school. Storm, Ice Man, Anole, Glob Herman, Ernst, and Cerebra (who is implanted into a Sentinel) try to defend, while Forge creates a failsafe shield. Back in NYC, Jean Grey is disgusted when she sees humans attacking an Inhuman, thinking he is a mutant. She uses her powers and her current boyfriend Chris is horrified that he is dating a mutant. She then meets with Old Man Logan and convinces him that since he is from a different timeline he won't kill the X-Men in this dimension and she'll do whatever she can to protect him from himself. They are then teleported to X-Haven and help with the final defenses before Forge powers up a shield. With X-Haven safe, they travel to Nightcrawler's last location and Wolverine tracks them into the sewers where they confront Mister Sinister and the Marauders. He reveals that he is only trying to save the mutant race, but they are doomed for extinction. His only experiment to blend the Inhuman and mutants was a clone of Cyclops, who then rampages through New York City. After the battle, Storm announces that the X-Men are opening X-Haven to any mutant seeking sanctuary from the Terrigen Mist, and mean no harm to humans or inhumans and will also be there to help them if needed. The speech goes viral and mutants respond from around the world. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47140571 | 1,435,285 |
1,901,532 | Adaptive Sports USA has a long and storied history in providing competitive sports opportunities to individuals with a disability. Founded in 1956 as the National Wheelchair Athletic Association, the early years of wheelchair sports were successful in large part due to the efforts of Benjamin Lipton, the Bulova Watch Company and the Bulova School of Watchmaking. Mr. Lipton was the executive director of the Bulova School of Watchmaking and served as the Chairman of NWAA for the first 25 years of its existence. Mr. Lipton ensured the viability of the organization during the early years by making the Bulova Company a primary financial supporter of NWAA. The initial impetus to organize NWAA grew out of the interests of athletes with disabilities - many of whom were veterans of World War II. They wanted to participate in sports other than basketball, a sport that had seen rapid growth in the early 1950s through teams sponsored by veterans hospitals and other rehabilitation agencies. General Omar N. Bradley was one of the leaders of the early efforts to develop wheelchair sports programs, principally for servicemen injured during the war. In the early days, many wheelchair basketball players saw participation in individual wheelchair sports as supplementary training for their primary interest in basketball. However, the NWAA program appealed to even greater numbers of athletes with disabilities due to the incorporation of women and athletes with quadriplegia, populations that could not be easily accommodated by Basketball. Europe's first organized wheelchair sports program was introduced in 1948 by well-known neurosurgeon, Dr. Ludwig Guttman, founder of the Spinal Injury Center in Stoke Mandeville, England. The first Stoke Mandeville Games included only twenty-six participants, and few events (shot put, javelin, club throw, and archery) but growth in both the number of events and participants developed quickly. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34184676 | 1,900,443 |
256,101 | Vast deposits of dolomite are present in the geological record, but the mineral is relatively rare in modern environments. Reproducible, inorganic low-temperature syntheses of dolomite are yet to be performed. Usually, the initial inorganic precipitation of a metastable "precursor" (such as magnesium calcite) can easily be achieved. The precursor phase will theoretically change gradually into a more stable phase (such as partially ordered dolomite) during periodical intervals of dissolution and re-precipitation. The general principle governing the course of this irreversible geochemical reaction has been coined "breaking Ostwald's step rule". High diagenetic temperatures, such as those of groundwater flowing along deeply rooted fault systems affecting some sedimentary successions or deeply buried limestone rocks allocate dolomitization. But the mineral is also volumetrically important in some Neogene platforms never subjected to elevated temperatures. Under such conditions of diagenesis the long-term activity of the deep biosphere could play a key role in dolomitization, since diagenetic fluids of contrasting composition are mixed as a response to Milankovitch cycles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=102519 | 255,967 |
58,350 | During the Berlin Crisis of 1961, President John F. Kennedy ordered 148,000 United States National Guard and reserve personnel to active duty on 30 August, in response to Soviet moves to cut off Allied access to Berlin. 21,067 individuals were from the ANG, forming 18 fighter squadrons, four reconnaissance squadrons, six transport squadrons, and a tactical control group. On 1 November 1961, the USAF mobilized three more ANG fighter interceptor squadrons. In late October and early November, eight of the tactical fighter units flew to Europe with their 216 aircraft in Operation Stair Step. Because of their short range, 60 F-104As were airlifted to Europe in late November, among them the 151st FIS and 157th FIS. As with the Taiwan crisis three years earlier, the Starfighter did not directly engage any enemy fighters, but its presence provided a powerful air-superiority deterrent; it demonstrated very quick reaction times and exemplary acceleration during practice intercepts, and proved superior to all other fighters in the theater. The crisis ended in the summer of 1962 and the ANG personnel returned to the United States, but the F-104's solid performance helped convince the ADC to recall some F-104s back into active USAF service the following year. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=82439 | 58,325 |
994,880 | Using multivariate methods in spatial analysis began really in the 1950s (although some examples go back to the beginning of the century) and culminated in the 1970s, with the increasing power and accessibility of computers. Already in 1948, in a seminal publication, two sociologists, Wendell Bell and Eshref Shevky, had shown that most city populations in the US and in the world could be represented with three independent factors : 1- the « socio-economic status » opposing rich and poor districts and distributed in sectors running along highways from the city center, 2- the « life cycle », i.e. the age structure of households, distributed in concentric circles, and 3- « race and ethnicity », identifying patches of migrants located within the city. In 1961, in a groundbreaking study, British geographers used FA to classify British towns. Brian J Berry, at the University of Chicago, and his students made a wide use of the method, applying it to most important cities in the world and exhibiting common social structures. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3190431 | 994,363 |
571,128 | Nernst started university at Zurich in 1883, then after an interlude in Berlin, he returned to Zurich. He wrote his thesis at Graz where Boltzmann was professor, though he worked under the direction of Ettinghausen. They discovered the Nernst effect: that a magnetic field applied perpendicular to a metallic conductor in a temperature gradient gives rise to an electrical potential difference. Next, he moved to Würzburg under Kohlrausch where he submitted and defended his thesis. Ostwald recruited him to the first department of physical chemistry at Leipzig. Nernst moved there as an assistant, working on the thermodynamics of electrical currents in solutions. Promoted to lecturer, he taught briefly at Heidelberg and then moved to Göttingen. Three years later, he was offered a professorship in Munich, to keep him in Prussia the government created a chair for him at Göttingen. There, he wrote a celebrated textbook "Theoretical Chemistry", which was translated into English, French, and Russian. He also derived the Nernst equation for the electrical potential generated by unequal concentrations of an ion separated by a membrane that is permeable to the ion. His equation is widely used in cell physiology and neurobiology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=75876 | 570,837 |
1,782,071 | Autophagy is an innate pathway used for degradation of cellular components (Kobayashi, 2015). In recent studies, scientists recognize the significance of autophagy both as a potential anti-apoptotic response to cancer treatments as well as a potential mechanism for getting rid of undesirable fusion proteins such as AML1-ETO. In a 2013 study, scientists demonstrated that the degradation of fusion oncoprotein AML1-ETO is not mediated by autophagy through a set of drug dosage trials testing the levels of AML1-ETO protein expression. The acute myeloid leukemia Kasumi-1 cell line was selected for the experiment due to its AML1-ETO positive characteristics. These cells were treated with increasing concentrations of each histone deacetylase inhibitors – valproic acid (VPA) (epileptic and bipolar drug) or vorinostat (cutaneous T cell lymphoma drug), which are known to induce autophagy associated with loss of the fusion protein. The two inhibitors were added to the cell line in doses of 0, 0.38 uM, 0.74 uM, and 1.5 uM. The cell lysates were then treated with autophagy inhibitors Baf or CQ, or control. Through immunoblotting, there is no reduction of AML1-ETO observed across the different concentrations of VPA or vorinostat. The results indicate that AML1-ETO degradation is not mediated by autophagy, but there is an observed pro-survival autophagy in the leukemic cells (Torgersen et al., 2013). Thus, an inhibition of autophagy would be a viable treatment method for subtype M2 acute myeloid leukemia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10454051 | 1,781,067 |
1,112,402 | More than 125,000 years ago, early Archaic humans such as "Homo heidelbergensis" developed the extensive use of hafted stone tools. Over time, hafting evolved and tools became deadlier with more control. Evolution has brought hafts with small shafts and dull stone tools to longer stronger shafts with sharper, narrower tools that were better suited for piercing and cutting. In much more recent times, hafted axes and weapons have benefited from tapering. By offsetting the diameters of a tool with a cylindrical base, and a hole in the shaft, a much more secure fit can be made, assuring the ax head stays in place. Hafting stone points, in particular, was an important advancement in the weapons of early humans. These hafted stone points increased the force and effectiveness of these tools, therefore, allowing people to hunt and kill animals more efficiently. The increased efficiency of hunting and killing animals is believed to have allowed for people of this time to have regular access to meat and other high-quality foods. The increase in the consumption of meat around this time could be directly linked to increases in brain size that are reported in the archaeology record of this time. The invention of hafting by people more than hundreds of thousands of years ago has directly contributed to the health and lives of people in the past and also people in the future. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9721272 | 1,111,836 |
735,557 | Dr. R. Chidambaram was Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (until Dr. Krishnasamy VijayRaghavan, replaced him in March 2018) and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory to the Cabinet of the Federal Government. Some of his initiatives as Principal Scientific Adviser, including the setting up of the Core Advisory Group for R&D in the Automotive Sector (CAR) to increase academia-industry interaction, the creation of RuTAGs (Rural Technology Action Groups) for effective need based technology delivery in rural areas, the establishment of SETS (Society for Electronic Transactions and Security), are making significant impact. During the last few years, he along with National Informatic Center helped conceptualise and supervise the setting up of the high-speed 'National Knowledge Network' to connect about 1,500 educational and research institutions in India. He has emphasized the need for 'Coherent Synergy' (a phrase he has coined) in India's Science & Technology (S&T) efforts to take India on a sustained fast-growth path. He has also focused on the importance of 'Directed Basic Research' as an addition to (not a substitute for) self-directed basic research. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7339616 | 735,170 |
338,819 | Average global temperatures in the Early Carboniferous Period were high: approximately 20 °C (68 °F). However, cooling during the Middle Carboniferous reduced average global temperatures to about 12 °C (54 °F). Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels fell during the Carboniferous Period from roughly 8 times the current level in the beginning, to a level similar to today's at the end. The Carboniferous is considered part of the Late Paleozoic icehouse, which began in the latest Devonian, with the formation of small glaciers in Gondwana. During the Tournaisian the climate warmed, before cooling, there was another warm interval during the Viséan, but cooling began again during the early Serpukhovian. At the beginning of the Pennsylvanian around 323 million years ago, glaciers began to form around the South Pole, which would grow to cover a vast area of Gondwana. This area extended from the southern reaches of the Amazon basin and covered large areas of southern Africa, as well as most of Australia and Antarctica. Cyclothems, which began around 313 million years ago, and continue into the following Permian indicate that the size of the glaciers were controlled by Milankovitch cycles akin to recent ice ages, with glacial periods and interglacials. Deep ocean temperatures during this time were cold due to the influx of cold bottom waters generated by seasonal melting of the ice cap. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5401 | 338,639 |
2,121,068 | Joseph Zimmermann (1912 – March 31, 2004) was an engineer, born in Kenosha, Wisconsin who invented the first answering machine, called the "Electronic Secretary". Zimmermann graduated from Marquette University in 1935 with a degree in electrical engineering. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II and was among the first soldiers to land on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, as part of the D-Day invasion. In addition to the patent on the telephone answering machine (1948), Zimmermann held dozens of other patents, including a security device that automatically dials a phone number and conveys information in case of an emergency; a magnetic recorder used to monitor heart patients; a system for accessing prerecorded lectures to earn college credit; an airport system to send out landing information to planes 24 hours a day. Zimmermann and his wife, Helen, had a son, Joseph. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1861452 | 2,119,849 |
28,138 | Empirical therapy may be chosen on the basis of the person's age, whether the infection was preceded by a head injury, whether the person has undergone recent neurosurgery and whether or not a cerebral shunt is present. In young children and those over 50 years of age, as well as those who are immunocompromised, the addition of ampicillin is recommended to cover "Listeria monocytogenes". Once the Gram stain results become available, and the broad type of bacterial cause is known, it may be possible to change the antibiotics to those likely to deal with the presumed group of pathogens. The results of the CSF culture generally take longer to become available (24–48 hours). Once they do, empiric therapy may be switched to specific antibiotic therapy targeted to the specific causative organism and its sensitivities to antibiotics. For an antibiotic to be effective in meningitis it must not only be active against the pathogenic bacterium but also reach the meninges in adequate quantities; some antibiotics have inadequate penetrance and therefore have little use in meningitis. Most of the antibiotics used in meningitis have not been tested directly on people with meningitis in clinical trials. Rather, the relevant knowledge has mostly derived from laboratory studies in rabbits. Tuberculous meningitis requires prolonged treatment with antibiotics. While tuberculosis of the lungs is typically treated for six months, those with tuberculous meningitis are typically treated for a year or longer. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21009963 | 28,128 |
1,850,405 | Annals of Botany is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing experimental, theoretical and applied papers on all aspects of plant biology. The current (2022) Chief Editor is Rowan Sage, replacing John Seymour (Pat) Heslop-Harrison (University of Leicester, UK and the South China Botanical Garden appointed in 2008). The journal is owned and managed by the Annals of Botany Company, a non-profit educational charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. It is published monthly through Oxford University Press in paper form and online, and is paid for primarily by institutional annual subscriptions. Regular extra issues, published free-of-charge, focus on topical themes. The journal does not levy page charges but authors may choose to pay a standard fee to secure open access status for their papers. According to "Journal Citation Reports", in 2019 (published 2020) "Annals of Botany"’s impact factor was 4.005 and was ranked 27th out of 234 journals in the Plant Sciences category. The Journal's Eigenfactor was 0.01652, its H-Index 165 and the SCImago score 1.615. Also owned by the educational charity, "Annals of Botany" has two sister journals, "AoB Plants", an online only open access botanical journal and "in silico PLANTS", an online open access journal devoted to plant modelling. It is also closely associated with the informal online plant science publication "Botany One." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12382401 | 1,849,344 |
67,347 | An operant conditioning chamber (also known as a "Skinner box") is a laboratory apparatus used in the experimental analysis of animal behavior. It was invented by Skinner while he was a graduate student at Harvard University. As used by Skinner, the box had a lever (for rats), or a disk in one wall (for pigeons). A press on this "manipulandum" could deliver food to the animal through an opening in the wall, and responses reinforced in this way increased in frequency. By controlling this reinforcement together with discriminative stimuli such as lights and tones, or punishments such as electric shocks, experimenters have used the operant box to study a wide variety of topics, including schedules of reinforcement, discriminative control, delayed response ("memory"), punishment, and so on. By channeling research in these directions, the operant conditioning chamber has had a huge influence on course of research in animal learning and its applications. It enabled great progress on problems that could be studied by measuring the rate, probability, or force of a simple, repeatable response. However, it discouraged the study of behavioral processes not easily conceptualized in such terms—spatial learning, in particular, which is now studied in quite different ways, for example, by the use of the water maze. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4868 | 67,321 |
2,138,883 | The advent in the mid-1990s of 'no-frills' carriers, such as easyJet, has had a significant influence on air travel in the UK. In 2005 these airlines carried 77.5 million passengers, up from just 4.3 million in 1996. They are responsible for the growth of regional airports, operating from 35 airports in 2006 compared to 10 in 1996, and increasing the choice of international destinations, serving 150 in 2006, compared to 12 a decade earlier. The annual rate of growth in the overall demand for air travel has remained stable since 1975, averaging 5.8 per cent annually. Recent growth is being serviced by the no-frills airlines at the expense of traditional carriers which, since 2000, have experienced flat or declining traffic levels. In response, traditional carriers have lowered costs to compete more effectively on price, leading to lower prices on the short haul routes serviced by this sector, especially in business fares. They have also limited or reduced capacity and in some cases launched no-frills subsidiaries of their own. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14120583 | 2,137,653 |
1,759,216 | In 1965, the third Indian expedition, which was led by Mohan Singh Kohli and his deputy Colonel Narendra "Bull" Kumar, included 21 core members of the expedition, and around 50 climbing sherpas. The mission was sponsored by the Indian Mountaineering foundation. The team started their journey from New Delhi on 21 February and reached on Jaynagar railway station in Bihar, the Indo-Nepal border on 24 February. They arranged for 25 tons of materials for the mission from various cities of India, including food, cloths, sleeping tents, oxygen cylinders and mountaineering equipment. All materials were carried from Jaynagar railway station to base camp by 800 porters including women. The initial attempt was at the end of April and due to bad weather they came back to base camp and wait two weeks for better weather. Towards the end of May, Mount Everest was scaled in four successive attempts and put nine climbers on to the summit, setting a world record which India held for 17 years. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61445869 | 1,758,223 |
630,422 | Currently, all PGD embryos are obtained by assisted reproductive technology, although the use of natural cycles and "in vivo" fertilization followed by uterine lavage was attempted in the past and is now largely abandoned. In order to obtain a large group of oocytes, the patients undergo controlled ovarian stimulation (COH). COH is carried out either in an agonist protocol, using gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues for pituitary desensitisation, combined with human menopausal gonadotrophins (hMG) or recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), or an antagonist protocol using recombinant FSH combined with a GnRH antagonist according to clinical assessment of the patient's profile (age, body mass index (BMI), endocrine parameters). hCG is administered when at least three follicles of more than 17 mm mean diameter are seen at transvaginal ultrasound scan. Transvaginal ultrasound-guided oocyte retrieval is scheduled 36 hours after hCG administration. Luteal phase supplementation consists of daily intravaginal administration of 600 µg of natural micronized progesterone. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=562180 | 630,084 |
255,657 | Several Filipino scientist have pioneered in the field of biology. For example, Eduardo Quisumbing, a biologist who graduated MS in Botany at the University of the Philippines Los Baños in 1921, and Ph.D. in Plant Taxonomy, Systematics and Morphology at the University of Chicago in 1923. He conducted research on taxonomic and morphological papers deal with orchids and authored the book "Medicinal Plants of the Philippines". The species of "Saccolabium quisumbingii" was named after him. Dioscoro L. Umali, is an agriculturist that was dubbed as the "Father of Philippine Plant Breeding" due to the programs he conducted that are related to rainfed and upland agriculture, social forestry, and environmental preservation. Marine biologists helped improve the knowledge on aquatic resources such as Angel Alcala, a biologist who was recognized for his research on amphibians and reptiles diversity and marine biodiversity in the country and served as a consultant on marine and aquatic projects under the United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and others, Gavino Trono, a biologist who was dubbed as the "Father of Kappaphycus farming" for his contributions to the study of tropical marine phycology, focusing on seaweed biodiversity, established the largest phycological herbarium in the country – the G.T. Velasquez Herbarium in the University of the Philippines’ Marine Science Institute, and authored a book that was considered as the most authoritative books in the country on the seaweed flora titled "Field guide and atlas of the seaweed resources of the Philippines". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9629399 | 255,523 |
1,238,228 | However, in mid-November, things began to go awry. Briselli showed the two completed movements he was learning to his violin coach in New York City, Albert Meiff, who was immediately critical of the work from a violinistic standpoint. Briselli did not concur. Nevertheless, Meiff, who enjoyed the confidence of Fels, and believing he was protecting Briselli's interests, took it upon himself to write Fels a letter (November 13) stating why the violin part had to undergo a "surgical operation" by a "specialist" such as himself. He said "The technical embellishments are very far from the requirements of a modern violinist..." and if Briselli performed the work as written, it would severely hurt his reputation. Meiff said he was rewriting the violin part to make it more acceptable and that it was necessary that he, Briselli and Barber get together for a "special meeting" to discuss his changes. Briselli was disappointed when he received the third movement from Barber in late November. He had expected a finale comparable in substance and quality to the first two movements, and felt it was too lightweight by comparison. He told Barber that it did not have a sense of belonging; it seemed musically unrelated to the first two movements, and he thought it was insufficient in compositional form or development to stand as the finale of a major work. It was important to Briselli that the commission be as substantial as the other major concertos in his repertoire that he was offering for prospective orchestra engagements. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3828005 | 1,237,562 |
470,945 | Non contact microwave-based radar sensors are able to see through low conductivity 'microwave-transparent' (non-conductive) glass/plastic windows or vessel walls through which the microwave beam can be passed and measure a 'microwave reflective' (conductive) liquid inside (in the same way as to use a plastic bowl in a microwave oven). They are also largely unaffected by high temperature, pressure, vacuum or vibration. As these sensors do not require physical contact with the process material, so the transmitter /receiver can be mounted a safe distance above/from the process, even with an antenna extension of several meters to reduce temperature, yet still respond to the changes in level or distance changes e.g. they are ideal for measurement of molten metal products at over 1200 °C. Microwave transmitters also offer the same key advantage of ultrasonics: the presence of a microprocessor to process the signal, provide numerous monitoring, controls, communications, setup and diagnostic capabilities and are independent of changing density, viscosity and electrical properties. Additionally, they solve some of the application limitations of ultrasonics: operation in high pressure and vacuum, high temperatures, dust, temperature and vapor layers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4023295 | 470,709 |
535,169 | In the immediate post-war period Australia contributed significant forces to the Allied occupation of Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), which included forces from Australia, Britain, India and New Zealand. At its height in 1946 the Australian component consisted of an infantry brigade, four warships and three fighter squadrons, totalling 13,500 personnel. The Australian Army component initially consisted of the 34th Brigade which arrived in Japan in February 1946 and was based in Hiroshima Prefecture. The three infantry battalions raised for occupation duties were designated the 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment in 1949, and the 34th Brigade became the 1st Brigade when it returned to Australia in December 1948, forming the basis of the post-war Regular Army. From that time the Australian Army contribution to the occupation of Japan was reduced to a single under-strength battalion. Australian forces remained until September 1951 when the BCOF ceased operations, although by that time the majority of units had been committed to the fighting on the Korean peninsula following the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. The RAAF component consisted of Nos. 76, 77 and 82 Squadrons as part of No. 81 Wing RAAF flying P-51 Mustangs, initially based at Bofu from March 1946, before transferring to Iwakuni in 1948. However, by 1950 only No. 77 Squadron remained in Japan. A total of ten RAN warships served in Japan during this period, including HMA Ships "Australia", "Hobart", "Shropshire", "Arunta", "Bataan", "Culgoa", "Murchison", "Shoalhaven", "Quadrant" and "Quiberon", while HMAS Ships "Manoora", "Westralia" and "Kanimbla" also provided support. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1323516 | 534,890 |
1,923,512 | Within the vast biological diversity that inhabits the world’s oceans, it would be challenging to find a eukaryotic organism that does not live in close relationship with a microbial partner. Such symbioses, i.e., persistent interactions between host and microbe in which none of the partners gets harmed and at least one of them benefits, are ubiquitous from shallow reefs to deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Studies on corals, sponges, and mollusks have revealed some of the profoundly important symbiotic roles microbes play in the lives of their hosts. These studies, however, have tended to focus on a small number of specific microbial taxa. In contrast, most hosts retain groups of many hundreds of different microbes (i.e., a microbiome, which themselves can vary throughout the ontogeny of the host and as a result of environmental perturbations. Rather than host-associated microbes functioning independently, complex multi-assemblage microbiomes have major impact on the fitness and function of their hosts. Studying these complex interactions and biological outcomes is difficult, but to understand the origin and evolution of organisms and populations and the structure and function of communities and ecosystems, the understanding of symbioses in host–microbiome systems needs advancing. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62893752 | 1,922,409 |
1,805,476 | Many advancements were made in music instrument technology during the Middle Ages and 19th Century. The introduction of copper smelting allowed for trumpets, organ pipes, and slides to be constructed with sheet metal which had a smooth texture and consistency in thickness, allowing for more range of tones and sounds. Improvements in molding and casting during the 19th Century allowed for technological advancement to pianos. While originally constructed with wooden frames, limiting the amount of sound that could be produced, pianos began to be constructed of one-piece iron frames. This provided a more amplified volume from the instrument and allowed musicians to use less force when playing the instrument. Improvements in drum tuning were also established at this time. The "Dresden" model of tuning, involving steel technology and employing a foot petal with ratchet in order to attach the device to the timpani, was invented by Carl Pittrich. This technology allowed for timpani to be tuned much faster by the musician. The Dresden tuners could also be added onto existing timpani, allowing symphonies to continue using their existing instruments while still employing this new technology. Lastly, the 19th century also lead to the development of valves, and when added in to the construction of trumpets and horns, they allowed for the instruments to express a broader range to the harmonic series of notes being produced. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6078697 | 1,804,461 |
1,318,071 | In 1924 Beranek's father brought home a battery-powered radio containing a single vacuum tube. His eldest son became fascinated with both the technology and the musical aspects of radio. In the harsh winter of January 1926, Beranek's mother died suddenly, leaving his father with huge debts and forcing his father to sell the farm within two months. In junior high school Beranek earned his first independent money by selling silk stockings and fabric. Beranek's father remarried and moved the family to the nearby town of Mount Vernon, Iowa, where he became co-owner of a hardware store. At his father's suggestion, Beranek learned radio repair via a correspondence course, and apprenticed to an older repairman. The younger Beranek quickly learned the trade, and was soon able to buy a Model T automobile. He also earned some spare cash by playing trap drums in a 6-person dance band. He continued to excel in his studies, including a typing class (rarely studied by boys) where he was the top performer. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3255483 | 1,317,346 |
2,122,004 | Muconate lactonizing enzymes (, "muconate cycloisomerase I", "cis,cis-muconate-lactonizing enzyme", "cis,cis-muconate cycloisomerase", "4-carboxymethyl-4-hydroxyisocrotonolactone lyase (decyclizing)", "CatB", "MCI", "MLE", "2,5-dihydro-5-oxofuran-2-acetate lyase (decyclizing))" are involved in the breakdown of lignin-derived aromatics, catechol and protocatechuate, to citric acid cycle intermediates as a part of the β-ketoadipate pathway in soil microbes. Some bacterial species are also capable of dehalogenating chloroaromatic compounds by the action of chloromuconate lactonizing enzymes. MLEs consist of several strands which have variable reaction favorable parts therefore the configuration of the strands affect its ability to accept protons. The bacterial MLEs belong to the enolase superfamily, several structures from which are known. MLEs have an identifying structure made up of two proteins and two Magnesium ions as well as various classes depending on whether it is bacterial or eukaryotic. The reaction mechanism that MLEs undergo are the reverse of beta-elimination in which the enolate alpha-carbon is protonated. MLEs can undergo mutations caused by a deletion of catB structural genes which can cause some bacteria to lose its functions such as the ability to grow. Additional mutations to MLEs can cause its structure and function to alter and could cause the conformation to change therefore making it an inactive enzyme that is unable to bind its substrate. There is another enzyme called Mandelate Racemase that is very similar to MLEs in the structural way as well as them both being a part of the enolase superfamily. They both have the same end product even though they undergo different chemical reactions in order to reach the end product. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4782730 | 2,120,785 |
455,861 | In February 2004, the UCS received press attention for its publication "Scientific Integrity in Policymaking". The report criticized the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush for "politicizing" science. Some of the allegations include altering information in global warming reports by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and choosing members of scientific advisory panels based on their business interests rather than scientific experience. In July 2004, the UCS released an addendum to the report in which they criticize the Bush administration and allege that reports on West Virginia strip mining had been improperly altered, and that "well-qualified" nominees for government posts such as Nobel laureate Torsten Wiesel were rejected because of political differences. On April 2, 2004, John Marburger, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, issued a statement claiming that incident descriptions in the UCS report are "false", "wrong", or "a distortion", and dismissed the report as "biased". UCS rebutted the White House document by saying that Marburger's claims were unjustified. UCS later wrote that since that time, the Bush administration has been virtually silent on the issue. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=495732 | 455,639 |
494,166 | "TIS-100" was based on an idea that Zach Barth, the founder and lead game designer of Zachtronics, had years prior. The concept was named "The Second Golden Age", which was set in the Middle East sometime in the near future, in which the player would program nanobots to be injected into the player-character's blood as to be able to solve various types puzzles akin to "Myst". One aspect would be the player-character coming across a used electronics store and finding an old computer with corrupted areas, which as they worked to clear up, would discover these corrupted areas contained the core of an artificial intelligence. While developing "Infinifactory", Barth wanted to try to start work on "The Second Golden Age" but found the effort, concurrent with "Infinifactory", was far too difficult. However, he had completed the assembly-language puzzle aspect, and decided to go ahead and refine only that portion as a full game. To finish off the game, he worked with Keith Holman to write the language's manual inspired by similar computer manuals of the time, and with Matthew Burns to craft a simple story around the game. They used concepts from a "Mondo 2000" infographic based on cybertech fashions to write the tongue-in-cheek narrative for the game and manual. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=46875661 | 493,911 |
1,002,080 | Houdini's set of tools are mostly implemented as operators. This has led to a higher learning curve than other comparable tools. It is one thing to know what all the nodes do – but the key to success with Houdini is understanding how to represent a desired creative outcome as a network of nodes. Successful users are generally familiar with a large repertoire of networks (algorithms) which achieve standard creative outcomes. The overhead involved in acquiring this repertoire of algorithms is offset by the artistic and algorithmic flexibility afforded by access to lower level building blocks with which to configure shot element creation routines. In large productions, the development of a procedural network to solve a specific element creation challenge makes automation trivial. Many studios that use Houdini on large feature effects, and feature animation projects develop libraries of procedures that can be used to automate generation of many of the elements for that film with almost no artist interaction. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=908456 | 1,001,562 |
1,276,752 | The dredging of canals across the southern marshlands has long been blamed for coastal erosion. What was then the Orleans Levee Board, now the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority operating as the East and West divisions, filed a lawsuit in July 2013 against 97 oil and gas companies for damages, claiming the 50 miles of marsh swamps, with stands of cypress that buffered Gulf storms, were "shredded by oil industry canals". It was considered to be an "entire ecosystem tanking", the "largest ecological catastrophe in North America since the dust bowl.", and "a wetland dying". “When you talk about dredging those canals, yes, it now appears to have been a pretty stupid thing to do” . . . . “But no one ever dreamed it would be an issue or that the coast would waste away.” —John Laborde, Founder, Tidewater Marine, 2010. This was not a new hypothesis as Percy Viosca, a Tulane graduate ultimately fired by then-Governor Long and brought back under another administration, stated “Man-made modifications in Louisiana wetlands, which are changing the conditions of existence from its very foundations, are the result of flood protection, deforestation, deepening channels[,] and the cutting of navigation and drainage canals.”, and concluded with “Time is ripe for an enormous development of the Louisiana wetlands along new and [more] intelligent lines.”, and this was in 1925. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47741580 | 1,276,059 |
338,177 | It is typically thought that the diets of "H. habilis" and other early "Homo" had a greater proportion of meat than "Australopithecus", and that this led to brain growth. The main hypotheses regarding this are: meat is energy- and nutrient-rich and put evolutionary pressure on developing enhanced cognitive skills to facilitate strategic scavenging and monopolise fresh carcasses, or meat allowed the large and calorie-expensive ape gut to decrease in size allowing this energy to be diverted to brain growth. Alternatively, it is also suggested that early "Homo", in a drying climate with scarcer food options, relied primarily on underground storage organs (such as tubers) and food sharing, which facilitated social bonding among both male and female group members. However, unlike what is presumed for "H. ergaster" and later "Homo", short-statured early "Homo" are generally considered to have been incapable of endurance running and hunting, and the long and "Australopithecus"-like forearm of "H. habilis" could indicate early "Homo" were still arboreal to a degree. Also, organised hunting and gathering is thought to have emerged in "H. ergaster". Nonetheless, the proposed food-gathering models to explain large brain growth necessitate increased daily travel distance. It has also been argued that "H. habilis" instead had long, modern humanlike legs and was fully capable of effective long distance travel, while still remaining at least partially arboreal. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14348 | 337,997 |
1,652,827 | When looking at a picture, people's brains are constantly making decisions about what object they are looking at, where they need to move their eyes next, and what they find to be the most salient aspects of the input stimulus. As these images hit the back of the retina, these stimuli are converted from varying wavelengths to a series of neural spikes called action potentials. These pattern of action potentials are different for different objects and different colors; we therefore say that the neurons are encoding objects and colors by varying their spike rates or temporal pattern. Now, if someone were to probe the brain by placing electrodes in the primary visual cortex, they may find what appears to be random electrical activity. These neurons are actually firing in response to the lower level features of visual input, possibly the edges of a picture frame. This highlights the crux of the neural decoding hypothesis: that it is possible to reconstruct a stimulus from the response of the ensemble of neurons that represent it. In other words, it is possible to look at spike train data and say that the person or animal being recorded is looking at a red ball. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33246145 | 1,651,895 |
1,068,102 | On April 15, 2010, President Obama spoke at the Kennedy Space Center announcing the administration's plans for NASA. None of the 3 plans outlined in the committee's final report were completely selected. The President cancelled the Constellation program and rejected immediate plans to return to the Moon on the premise that the current plan had become nonviable. He instead promised $6 billion in additional funding and called for development of a new heavy lift rocket program to be ready for construction by 2015 with crewed missions to Mars orbit by the mid-2030s. The Obama administration released its new formal space policy on June 28, 2010, in which it also reversed the Bush policy's rejection of international agreements to curb the militarization of space, saying that it would "consider proposals and concepts for arms control measures if they are equitable, effectively verifiable and enhance the national security of the United States and its allies." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30731968 | 1,067,548 |
1,404,463 | During World War One, work started on radio guided weapons at various establishments, such as the experiments of Capt. Cyril Percy Ryan at Hawkcraig Experimental Station (H.M.S. Tarlair). However, as control by the Munitions Inventions Department over military research was introduced, a centre for the Royal Flying Corps radio guided weapons was established. This was the secret Experimental Works in Feltham. The focus of their work was radio guided systems but the unit also assisted with other tasks. They were involved in testing the Pomeroy bullet and George Constantinescu's synchronization gear. They provided ‘distractions’ for the Zeebrugge raid and its Commanding Officer Archibald Low travelled to France and into neutral Spain during the war to debunk reports of ‘fantastic’ weapons. Low had at least 30 specialists under his command at Feltham supported by their contractors and suppliers. They had motor transport assets and military and police security. Their balloon facility was used to conducted radio reception experiments and they tested their equipment using aircraft with trailing aerials. Low was a qualified RFC Observer. His officers included his second in command Henry Jeffrey Poole, his radio engineer George William Mahoney Whitton, the talented inventor Ernest Windsor Bowen and the carburation specialist Louis Mantell. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=67154389 | 1,403,673 |
1,933,048 | The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) is a society that aims to further the success of Chicano/Hispanic and Native American students in obtaining advanced degrees, careers, leadership positions, and equality in the STEM field. Founded in 1973, SACNAS has over 20,000 members and 110 chapters on college campuses across the United States and United States held territories. SACNAS began in junior and high schools through graduate and undergraduate programs with the purpose of mentoring students of minority backgrounds. The society does not discriminate against any group, and benefits African American, Asian American, and white students, as well as those who are in the social sciences. In the past decade alone, SACNAS has experienced major growth. The society experienced an increased participation rate of 40% for their annual conferences between 2005 and 2010, while jumping from 32 to 50 chapters on college campuses across the nation between 2007 and 2010. The society's revenue increased as well, moving from $2.3 million to $3.8 million from 2007 to 2010, a total growth of 65%. SACNAS is the largest multicultural STEM diversity organization in the US. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51783464 | 1,931,940 |
2,003,925 | Low temperature distillation (LTD) is a thermal distillation process in several stages, powered by temperature differences between heat and cooling sources of at least 5 K per stage. Two separate volume flows, a hot evaporator flow and a cool condenser flow, with different temperatures and vapor pressures, are sprayed in a combined pressure chamber, where non-condensable gases are continuously removed. As the vapor moves to a partial pressure equilibrium, part of the water from the hot stream evaporates. Several serial arranged chambers in counter flow of the hot evaporator and cold condenser stream allow a high internal heat recovery by the application of multiple stages. The process excels in a high specific heat conversion rate caused by the reduction of heat transfer losses, which results in a high thermal efficiency and low heat transfer resistance. The LTD process is tolerant to high salinity, other impurities, and fluctuating feed water qualities. The precipitation of solids is technically intended to allow for zero-liquid-discharge operation (complete ZLD). It is possible to combine the low-temperature distillation process with existing desalination technologies serving as downstream process to increase the water output and reduce the brine generation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63078029 | 2,002,776 |
1,077,662 | Perhaps one of the most prominent models of peer-assessment can be found in design studios. One of the benefits of such studios comes from structured contrasts which can help novices notice differences that might otherwise have been accessible only for experts. In fact, it is a well known strategy for designers to use comparisons to get inspired. Some researchers designed systems that support comparative examples to surface helpful comparisons in educational settings. However, what makes a good comparison remains unclear; the general guidance of good feedback by Sadler describes three characteristics: specific, actionable, and justified, and has widely been adopted in feedback research. However, with each piece of work to be evaluated differing so vastly in content, the path towards those qualities in a specific feedback performance remains largely unknown. Effective feedback is not only written actionably, specifically, and in a justified manner, but more importantly, contains good content; good in the sense that it points out relevant things, brings in new insights, and changes the minds of its recipients to consider the problem from a different angle, or re-represent it completely. This requires content-specific customization. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25382047 | 1,077,107 |
2,111,197 | The race was conducted in almost 30 °C temperatures, but the Chinese team took the race out at a pace only seen once before, during Ingrid Kristiansen's world record race 5 years earlier. Zhong Huandi took the pace for her 20 year old country mate Wang Junxia, while the others struggled to keep up. 15 year old Sally Barsosio stayed close to the pace, but her inexperience and erratic movements disrupted the flow for several runners near her. At one point during the race she was shown a yellow card by an umpire to essentially tell her to get out of the way. After getting spiked too many times from Barsosio's back kick, Elana Meyer walked off the track. The fast pace eventually slowed mid-race, then in frustration, Wang took off, separating from the chase pack of Zhong, Barsosio and Tegla Loroupe. Wang began dropping her lap times progressively 72, 71, 70, 69, 68. She capped it off with a 61 final lap for a championship record 30:49.30. Half a lap back, Barsosio had edged ahead of with Loroupe unable to maintain the pace and fading, then Zhong launched into a sprint the loping Barsosio could not match, pulling away to a three second gap for silver. After the race, Barsosio was disqualified, only to be reinstated on appeal. A little over two weeks later, Wang demolished the world record, running 29:31.78, part of a record smashing National Games of China when three major women's distance records were set. Wang's 10,000 record lasted until the 2016 Olympics when it was smashed by Ethiopian Almaz Ayana. Her 3000 metres record from 1993 has never been beaten. 4th place in that 1993 Chinese race is still the #4 time in history. In 2016, a letter written by Wang in 1995 was published where she is said to have admitted to herself and her Liaoning teammates doping. Zhong trained with a different group in Yunnan. Four years later Barsosio won this race as a 19 year old. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13977098 | 2,109,982 |
1,760,400 | Brenda Dervin (Dervin, 1983, 1992, 1996) has investigated individual sensemaking, developing theories about the "cognitive gap" that individuals experience when attempting to make sense of observed data. Because much of this applied psychological research is grounded within the context of systems engineering and human factors, it aims to answer the need for concepts and performance to be measurable and for theories to be testable. Accordingly, sensemaking and situational awareness are viewed as working concepts that enable researchers to investigate and improve the interaction between people and information technology. This perspective emphasizes that humans play a significant role in adapting and responding to unexpected or unknown situations, as well as recognized situations. Dervin's work has largely focused on developing philosophical guidance for method, including methods of substantive theorizing and conducting research (Naumer, C. et al., 2008). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55646581 | 1,759,407 |
2,154,198 | The appointment of a new executive team in 2019 came with a comprehensive reorientation of the key guiding principles for their research agendas. At the heart of the research agenda of the Department of Criminal Law is the development of a transnational theory of criminal law. The objective is to map comprehensively the wide range of available instruments, concepts, and solutions by analyzing on the basis of problem-centered questions different traditions of national criminal law, including the practical aspects of law enforcement. The research agenda of the Department of Public Law addresses issues relevant to security that cannot – or not exclusively – be dealt with by means of the instruments of criminal law. These issues include, in addition to general theoretical and doctrinal questions, current developments in law, technology, and society, i.e., internationalization, digitalization, and fragmentation. The associated normative challenges of danger prevention are analyzed in terms of the protection of basic rights and the principles of rule of law and democracy. The research program of the Department of Criminology focuses on the theoretical and empirical explanations for conforming and deviant behavior. The objective is to explore how individual behavior manifests itself ad hoc, how it changes or develops over time, and how it can be explained. To this end, drawing primarily on psychological theories, innovative new research methods are employed, including computer-assisted experiments using virtual reality software. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18437664 | 2,152,967 |
1,450,551 | The Himmler stamp was designed by the British secret service with the intention of driving a wedge between the leadership of the Nazi regime. With the idea that Himmler was planning a coup d'état and wanted to make himself a new leader or president of Germany, an allegedly prepared stamp issue with his portrait was considered suitable to bring this idea into the minds of the NS leadership in the first place. The stamp was distributed by British agents, especially in neutral Switzerland. It was hoped that stamp collectors became aware of this stamp and that a major press campaign would subsequently take place about it. It turned out, however, that this forgery did not attract a lot of attention, neither in Switzerland nor in the rest of Europe. In the end, the British agents were forced to take the Himmler stamp directly to stamp dealers to make it public. However, even this measure did not lead to the desired success and the action turned out to be a complete failure, as practically nobody believed in the alleged Himmler overthrow. What was curious, however, was that a member of the US secret service OSS in Bern, of all people, ascribed extraordinary significance to this stamp. On June 10, 1944, US agent Allan Dulles prepared a detailed report for his superior in Washington in which he described the mysterious stamp. As the US side amazingly had not been informed about the counterfeiting operation by the British secret service, the US secret service started superfluous investigations and thus tied up personnel, which finally turned the whole operation into an embarrassing mishap. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6890367 | 1,449,734 |
716,273 | The nuclear fuel elements were made of refractory ceramic based on beryllium oxide, with enriched uranium dioxide as fuel and small amount of zirconium dioxide for structural stability. The fuel elements were hollow hexagonal tubes about long with distance between the outer parallel planes, with inside diameter of . They were manufactured by high-pressure extruding of the green compact, then sintering almost to its theoretical density. The core consisted of 465,000 individual elements stacked to form 27,000 airflow channels; the design with small unattached elements reduced problems related with thermal stresses. The elements were designed for average operation temperature of ; the autoignition temperature of the reactor base plates was only 150 °C higher. The neutron flux was calculated to be 9×10 neutrons/(cm·s) in the aft and 7×10 neutrons/(cm·s) in the nose. The gamma radiation level was fairly high due to the lack of shielding; radiation hardening for the guidance electronics had to be designed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=746248 | 715,897 |
606,309 | In the prologue, Columbus mentions his orders to sail to India were received in January 1492, following the expulsion of Jews from Spain. Conflicting reports exist over the actual date of the expulsion, with Columbus citing January while other sources, including the Alhambra Decree, cite March. After the prologue, the diary begins with Columbus's departure from Spain towards the Canary Islands "half an hour before sunrise" on 3 August 1492. On 16 September Columbus reported he had entered the Sargasso Sea. The journal mentions several animals encountered during the westward voyage, such as dolphins and frigatebirds. Columbus also describes magnetic declination. Because European sailors had only previously traveled with eastern magnetic declination, Columbus is credited with discovering western magnetic declination for Europeans. The journal also briefly mentions the crew's mood during the voyage. Columbus writes that the covered distance regularly announced to the crew was usually smaller than the real one. On the eve of arrival to the New World, the journal reported an unknown light sighting. Columbus named the first landfall of his voyage San Salvador on 12 October, and described the people residing on the island as naive and naked, but welcoming to the European explorers. Even though the journal shows Columbus's imperfect knowledge of the Spanish language, he makes comparisons of the New World landscape to that of Spain, such as spring-like in Andalusia, rivers like those in Seville, and hills like those behind Córdoba. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47594693 | 605,999 |
1,348,011 | In the 1960s, Fitzsimons Army Hospital became further known for its "Clinical Specialist School," at that time one of the longest professional schools for enlisted US military personnel. US Army medics of varied service and rank studied both academically and in rotation on the hospital's wards. At the end of close to a year of study, those students who had previously gained "Combat Medic" (91A10) and "Medical Specialist" (91B20) proficiency now graduated as "Clinical Specialists" (91C20), a level of medical proficiency which paralleled that of the "Licensed Practical Nurse" (LPN or LVN) in the civilian world, but inclusive of additional skills such as treatment of basic wound trauma and elemental surgical methods more applicable to military wartime nursing. Most of the 91C20s ("Ninety-one Charlies") would find themselves working with registered nurses in military hospital settings, but as the Vietnam War was at its height in the late 1960s, certain graduates would move on to Special Forces assignments and such as Medical Civic Action assistance (MEDCAPs) for those Vietnamese living in more remote regions, and so often forced to go without the benefits enjoyed by Vietnamese living near cities. "Ninety-one Charlies" proved well suited to a medical niche previously wanting for civilian-certified Practical Nurses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=466014 | 1,347,270 |
539,441 | Every century (group of 60-100 men) in the Roman army had a "ballista" by the 1st century AD. It was the command of the chief of the "ballistae", under whom were the artillery experts, or "doctores ballistarum" and finally, the artillerymen, or "ballistarii". "Ballistae" were heavy missile weapons, hurling large rocks great distances to damage rampart walls. They resembled large crossbows, rather than catapults. They were powered by two horizontal like arms, which were inserted into two vertical and tightly wound "skein" springs contained in a rectangular frame structure making up the head or principal part of the weapon. The arms were drawn rearward with a winch lever to further twist the skeins and thus gain the torsion power to cast a projectile. It has been said that the whirring sound of a "ballista"-fired stone struck fear and dread into the hearts of those inside the walls of besieged cities. The stones chosen to be used in the "ballista" had to be a particular sort. According to Vegetius, river stones were best, since they are round, smooth, and dense. "Ballista" stones found at the site of Masada were chiseled to make them as round as possible. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1299991 | 539,161 |
1,356,532 | Previous research has documented the effectiveness of Tetramethylenedisulfotetramine against mice. The dangers of this chemical were first suspected in 1949. The U.S. Forest Service, looking to protect tree seeds for reforestation, noted its lethal effect against the rodent populations. Rather than repel wandering scavengers, the chemical was proved to be toxic to the local rodent population for up to 4 years. Continued experiments conducted by the U.S. Forest Service found no direct effect between TETS and the gastro-intestinal or renal systems of spinal dogs. In this same study, no effects were seen within the peripheral or skeletal nerve system, limiting symptoms of toxicity to the brain stem. Curtis and Johnson were the first to hypothesize TETS antagonistic behavior on GABA. An in-vitro study using superior cervical ganglion neurons of rats found TETS to antagonize the depolarization actions of GABA, while having no influence on the cholinomimetic agent carbachol. This evidence suggests that TETS may act as a non-competitive inhibitor for GABA. Further research findings using crustacean models, indicated a dose-dependent, non-competitive response to TETS that is reversible. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5414549 | 1,355,782 |
1,341,877 | A prominent feature of "Mymoorapelta" was its armor mostly consisting of large spiked osteoderms (bony armor) protruding from the lateral and dorsal sides of the body. These have not been found in articulation, so their exact placement on the body is unknown, though their position can be surmised based on the well preserved skeletons of nodosaurids and other ankylosaurs. In "Mymoorapelta", there are five different preserved armor types: an elongated spine with a large, hollow base; a thin triangular plate with a narrower, asymmetrical base; a small bladelike spine with a rounded, solid base; isolated, flat, keeled scutes; and scutes fused into a single plate of armor. The large spine is assumed to have extended from the base of the neck outward laterally and the point curving posteriorly. Evidence from "Borealopelta" also supports the extension of the spike by a large keratin sheath. Further down the body, the aforementioned thin triangular plates, of which eight are known, are preserved similarly to those in "Polacanthus". It was theorized by Kirkland and Carpenter that the largest of these plates were attached to the proximal part of the tail, and protruded laterally along the sides of the body and a specimen preserved one at . A single, small triangular plate was reported in 1994 and it preserves a thin, bladelike morphology, though its position is unknown. Twelve of the keeled, flat scutes were recovered from "Mymoorapelta" in 1994, preserving a keeled oval shape and an external surface bearing uniform, weak pitting, and a privation of neurovascular grooves (the system that controls blood flow and homeostasis) and foramina (small openings within bones). In the internal structure of the scutes, half of the space is made up of trabecular bone while the rest of thick external and basal cortices. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4347315 | 1,341,143 |
1,826,121 | When the substrate is biased to a negative voltage (few KV's), the resultant electric field drives electrons away from the substrate in the time scale of the inverse electron plasma frequency ω ( ~ 10 sec). Thus an ion matrix Debye sheath which is depleted of electrons forms around it. The negatively biased substrate will accelerate the ions within a time scale of the inverse ion plasma frequency ω ( ~ 10 sec). This ion movement lowers the ion density in the bulk, which causes the sheath-plasma boundary to expand in order to sustain the applied potential drop, in the process exposing more ions. The plasma sheath expands until either a steady-state condition is reached, which is called Child Langmuir law limit; or the high voltage is switched off as in the case of Pulsed DC biasing. Pulse biasing is preferred over DC biasing because it creates less damage during the pulse ON time and neutralization of unwanted charges accumulated on the wafer in the afterglow period (i.e. after the pulse has ended). In case of pulsed biasing the T time of the pulse is generally kept at 20-40 µs, while the T is kept at 0.5-2 ms i.e. a duty cycle of 1-8%. The power supply used is in range of 500 V to hundreds of KV and the pressure in the range of 1-100 mTorr. This is the basic principle of the operation of "immersion" type PIII. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13871411 | 1,825,082 |
155,674 | , or Test Type, is the experimental model of the Evangelion series and the second specimen to be built in the Nerv headquarters, studied under the direct supervision of Dr. Yui Ikari. It differs from all previous and subsequent specimens, as the biological matter that forms the basis comes from the second Angel, Lilith. In addition to the characteristic predominantly purple coloration, it is characterized by a long horn that extends from the center of the forehead and a binocular viewer. It is the first humanoid to be used in an actual war operation. The 01 acts out of control on several occasions and takes on a decisive role in wartime operations. The living humanoid at the base of Unit 01 is characterized by brown-colored organic tissues and a red-colored, blood-like body fluid. The unit's mouth is normally secured with bolts, and its actual biological body is covered, like the other units, by a special constrictive armor. The unit has positive operational results and the greatest tactical experience of all the units produced by Nerv. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=577372 | 155,603 |
1,156,334 | Diethylzinc is not limited to only being used in chemistry. Because of its high reactivity toward air, it was used in small quantities as a hypergolic or "self igniting" liquid rocket fuel—it ignites on contact with oxidizer, so the rocket motor need only contain a pump, without a spark source for ignition. Diethylzinc was also investigated by the United States Library of Congress as a potential means of mass deacidification of books printed on wood pulp paper. Diethylzinc vapour would, in theory, neutralize acid residues in the paper, leaving slightly alkaline zinc oxide residues. Although initial results were promising, the project was abandoned. A variety of adverse results prevented the method's adoption. Most infamously, the final prototype suffered damage in a series of explosions from contact between trace amounts of diethylzinc and water vapor in the chamber. This led the authors of the study to humorously comment: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5672289 | 1,155,724 |
101,760 | Card's membership of the LDS Church has been an important influence on his writing, though he initially tried to keep his religious beliefs separate from his fiction. Susanne Reid, a science fiction scholar, stated Card's religious background is evident in his frequent messiah protagonists and the "moral seriousness" in his works. Card's science-fiction books do not reference the LDS religion directly but "offer careful readers insights that are compelling and moving in their religious intensity". Non-LDS readers of "A Planet Called Treason" did not remark on religious themes, however, LDS reviewer Sandy Straubhaar disliked the novel's explicit violence and sex, and stated LDS connections were "gratuitous". Dick Butler criticized "A Planet Called Treason" for its lack of Gospel themes and ideas, and two other LDS reviewers defended Card. According to Michael Collings, a critic who acknowledges his "unabashed appreciation" of Card, knowledge of Mormon theology is vital to completely understanding Card's works, stating the life stages of the "piggies" in "Speaker for the Dead" correspond to phases of life in the LDS's plan of salvation.In an article in "Sunstone", Christopher C. Smith also noticed this parallel, noting that the "piggies" procreate "more or less eternally" in the last stage of their development. "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead" deal with religious themes common in LDS theology but without many surface references to the religion. The Alvin Maker series does not try to explain Mormon history but uses it to examine his characters' relationships with God. Card stated that his church membership influences his communitarian values, specifically, making personal sacrifices for the good of a community. Individuals making sacrifices for their community is a theme in his work. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6097209 | 101,715 |
215,302 | Between 1930 and 1938 the Air Corps had obtained a mission in coastal defense that justified both the creation of a centralized strike force and the development of four-engined bombers, and over the resistance of the General Staff lobbied for another mission, strategic bombardment, with which it could persuasively argue for independence from the Army. The cost of the General Staff's resistance in terms of preparedness had been severe, however. Its policies had resulted in the acquisition of obsolete aircraft as first-line equipment, stifled design development in the private sector of better types, retarded the development of radar and ordnance, and handicapped training, doctrine, and offensive organization by reneging on commitments to acquire the B-17. "From October 1935 until 30 June 1939, the Air Corps requested 206 B-17's and 11 B-15's. Yet because of cancellations and reductions of these requests by the War Department, 14 four-engine planes were delivered to the air force up to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23869026 | 215,194 |
1,068,504 | At the moment there are no therapies specifically targeting the underlying cause of AGS. Current treatments address the symptoms, which can be varied both in scope and severity. Many patients benefit from tube-feeding. Drugs can be administered to help with seizures / epilepsy. The treatment of chilblains remains problematic, but particularly involves keeping the feet / hands warm. Physical therapy, including the use of splints can help to prevent contractures and surgery is sometimes required. Botox (botulinium toxin) has sometimes caused severe immune reactions in some AGS patients, and the high risk of possible further brain damage must be considered before giving Botox. Occupational therapy can help with development, and the use of technology (e.g. Assistive Communication Devices) can facilitate communication. Patients should be regularly screened for treatable conditions, most particularly glaucoma and endocrine problems (especially hypothyroidism). The risk versus benefit of giving immunizations also must be considered, as some AGS patients have high immune responses or flares that cause further brain damage from immunizations but other patients have no problems with immunizations; on the other hand, AGS patients have died from illnesses that can be immunized against, so the family must consider the risk vs. benefit of each immunization vs. risk of the actual virus if they choose not to immunize. As of 2017, there are current drug trials being conducted that may lead to drug treatments for AGS. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38887508 | 1,067,950 |
808,348 | Linguistic determinism is a partial assumption behind developments in rhetoric and literary theory. For example, French philosopher Jacques Derrida dissected the terms of "paradigmatic" hierarchies (in language structures, some words exist only with antonyms, such as light/dark, and others exist only with relation to other terms, such as father/son and mother/daughter; Derrida targeted the latter). He believed that if one breaks apart the hidden hierarchies in language terms, one can open up a "lacuna" in understanding, an "aporia," and free the mind of the reader/critic. Similarly, Michel Foucault's New Historicism theory posits that there is a quasi-linguistic structure present in any age, a metaphor around which all things that can be understood are organized. This "episteme" determines the questions that people can ask and the answers they can receive. The episteme changes historically: as material conditions change, so the mental tropes change, and vice versa. When ages move into new epistemes, the science, religion, and art of the past age look absurd. Some Neo-Marxist historians have similarly looked at culture as permanently encoded in a language that changes with the material conditions. As the environment changes, so too do the language constructs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=915027 | 807,918 |
1,632,425 | Early in 1900 a new Nevada fossil site was discovered in the Virgin Valley. The site bore three fossil rich horizons. The lower and upper layers were rich in animal remains like two relatives of modern camels, a large cat, two different kinds of horse, remains likely belonging to a rhinoceros, and mastodons. Between the animal-bearing layer was a deposit rich in plant material like leaves, logs, and stems. In 1908 more discoveries were made in the Virgin Valley area in beds being exploited for opal. There naturally occurring casts of twigs, limbs, and cracks of petrified wood were found. In 1912 a slab of rock preserving fish, a primitive horse, mollusks, and plants, near Esmeralda Field. In 1914, Miocene fossils of creatures like freshwater mollusks, mastodons, and rhinoceros were found in the Kawich Mountains northeast of Las Vegas. The site is now known as the Truckie Beds. In 1930 M. R. Harrington was searching for Pueblo Indian pottery when he serendipitously discovered the skull of a ground sloth in Gypsum Cave in southern Nevada. Harrington later returned to the site and uncovered more of the sloth's bones. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37799163 | 1,631,503 |
152,573 | The Scorpion stemmed from a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Air Technical Service Command specification ("Military Characteristics for All-Weather Fighting Aircraft") for a night fighter to replace the P-61 Black Widow. The preliminary specification, sent to aircraft manufacturers on 28 August 1945, required two engines and an armament of six guns, either machine guns or autocannon. The revised specification was issued on 23 November; it did not specify jet propulsion, but the desired maximum speed of virtually dictated that all the submissions would be jet-powered. The aircraft was to be armed with aerial rockets stored internally and six guns split between two flexible mounts, four guns forward and two in the rear. Each mount had to be capable of 15° of movement from the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. Each mount's guns were to be automatically controlled by radar. For ground attack, it had to be capable of carrying bombs and to be able to carry a minimum of eight rockets externally. Bell Aircraft, Consolidated-Vultee, Douglas Aircraft, Goodyear, Northrop and Curtiss-Wright all submitted proposals. In March 1946, the USAAF selected the Curtiss-Wright XP-87 Blackhawk, adapted from their proposed XA-43 attack aircraft and the Northrop N-24 design, one of four submitted by the company. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=458875 | 152,505 |
2,019,510 | HADES (Haskins Analysis Display and Experiment System) refers to a family of signal processing computer programs that was developed in the 1980s at Haskins Laboratories by Philip Rubin and colleagues to provide for the display and analysis of multiple channel physiological, speech, and other sampled data in an experimental context. Principal programmers over the years on this project included Vance Maverick , Mark Tiede , Marian Pressler, and Simon Levy . The most significant feature of HADES was the incorporation of a procedural language known as "SPIEL" (Signal Processing Interactive Editing Language) that provided for the creation and customization of specialized analysis procedures that can be stored as text files, edited, etc., and are similar to functions and subroutines in programming languages like C and Fortran. HADES was one of the earliest signal processing systems with an integrated language and, through the use of SPIEL, provided for automated procedural analysis of large datasets, usually speech data or multiple-channel physiological data acquired with specialized hardware such as the EMMA magnetometer system. Previous systems at the time included "ILS" from STI, Inc., and the MITSYN system designed by Bill Henke. HADES was written in C and implemented on VAX systems running VMS. Although HADES still finds limited use, its functionality was eventually replaced by commercial systems such as MATLAB. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8283993 | 2,018,347 |
90,391 | Prior to its production by recombinant DNA technology, growth hormone used to treat deficiencies was extracted from the pituitary glands of cadavers. Attempts to create a wholly synthetic HGH failed. Limited supplies of HGH resulted in the restriction of HGH therapy to the treatment of idiopathic short stature. Very limited clinical studies of growth hormone derived from an Old World monkey, the rhesus macaque, were conducted by John C. Beck and colleagues in Montreal, in the late 1950s. The study published in 1957, which was conducted on "a 13-year-old male with well-documented hypopituitarism secondary to a crainiophyaryngioma," found that: "Human and monkey growth hormone resulted in a significant enhancement of nitrogen storage ... (and) there was a retention of potassium, phosphorus, calcium, and sodium. ... There was a gain in body weight during both periods. ... There was a significant increase in urinary excretion of aldosterone during both periods of administration of growth hormone. This was most marked with the human growth hormone. ... Impairment of the glucose tolerance curve was evident after 10 days of administration of the human growth hormone. No change in glucose tolerance was demonstrable on the fifth day of administration of monkey growth hormone." The other study, published in 1958, was conducted on six people: the same subject as the Science paper; an 18-year-old male with statural and sexual retardation and a skeletal age of between 13 and 14 years; a 15-year-old female with well-documented hypopituitarism secondary to a craniopharyngioma; a 53-year-old female with carcinoma of the breast and widespread skeletal metastases; a 68-year-old female with advanced postmenopausal osteoporosis; and a healthy 24-year-old medical student without any clinical or laboratory evidence of systemic disease. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=173072 | 90,351 |
1,690,447 | A very popular form of sound marketing is through the use of jingles. In the United States jingles were used as a new way to market new products and services as early as the 1920s. In 1938, Hereford-born Austen Croom-Johnson (1909–1964) and his Chicago-born lyricist partner, Alan Bradley Kent "(né" Karl Dewitt Byington, Jr.; 1912–1991) developed the jingle "Pepsi-Cola Hits the Spot," and in 1939 it debuted on radio and became known as the first network jingle. The Pepsi jingle was successfully placed in millions of jukeboxes around the United States. Jingles have traditionally been characterized by short lyrics and commercial messages. They are memorable because short sound sequences that are repeated tend to be easily remembered. Voices can also be used to create a connection between a brand and a sound. Voices are often perceived as personal, emotional and friendly which is why they are so effective for certain brands, however, a voice has to be used continuously and coherently in order to enhance the brand identity. BMW used David Suchet's voice for over 10 years to give the right feeling to its commercials. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33544122 | 1,689,501 |
1,260,942 | On July 25, 2017, Tetraphase pharmaceuticals released top line data via press showing clinical cure rates in the micro-ITT population to be 90.8% and 91.2% for eravacycline (n=195) and meropenem (n=205), respectively (95% CI: -6.3%,5.3%). Primary analysis was conducted using a 12.5% non-inferiority margin of the modified intent-to-treat (MITT) and clinically evaluable (CE) patient populations. Clinical cure rates in the MITT population were 92.4% and 91.6% for eravacycline (n=250) and meropenem (n=249), respectively (95% CI: -4.1%,5.8%). Clinical cure rates in the CE population were 96.9% and 96.1% for eravacycline (n=225) and meropenem (n=231), respectively (95% CI: -2.9%,4.5%). Eravacycline met the primary efficacy endpoints according to the FDA and EMA guidelines. The secondary analyses were consistent with, and supportive of, the primary outcome according to Tetraphase. There were no treatment-related serious adverse events (SAEs) in the trial. Treatment-emergent adverse event (TEAEs) rates were similar in both treatment groups with the most commonly reported drug-related adverse events (AEs) for eravacycline were infusion site reactions, nausea and vomiting, each occurring at a rate of less than 5%. The most common Gram-negative pathogens in the study included "Escherichia coli", "Klebsiella pneumoniae", "Pseudomonas" and "Bacteroides". Full data from IGNITE4 will become available as the company prepares to submit its New Drug Application (NDA) in the first quarter of 2018 for Eravacycline treatment of Complicated Intra-abdominal Infections. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40308124 | 1,260,255 |
4,009 | "Betrayal" was announced by Sony Online Entertainment at a press conference in Los Angeles in May 2007. The game utilizes a total of 110 different animations and features a 2D rendition of the series' three-dimensional (3D) graphics. Game director Phil Cohen said that although the game was enjoyable to develop, the greatest challenge was creating a single tileset and palette swapping scheme that was diverse enough to portray multiple environments with only several hundred kilobytes, and that met Santa Monica Studio's high standards. Cohen wrote the initial design document between September and October 2005, and revisited it in August 2006, the month development started. The versions for high-end handsets were completed in April 2007, with final versions for low-end handsets completed by June 2007. The porting team adapted the game to over 200 handsets in a matter of weeks. Both David Jaffe and Cory Barlog ensured that the "Betrayal" development team captured the feel of the combat and visual style, and were "helpful with feedback and positive support". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16282491 | 4,007 |
1,476,533 | After modification by Maunsell, the S15 class was regarded by locomotive crews as an excellent goods engine best known for working heavy night express goods trains between Exeter, Southampton and Nine Elms. The S15s were also very capable passenger engines, being able to deputise in situations where there was a shortage of passenger locomotives during peak holiday periods. Both Urie and Maunsell S15s spent most of their working lives on the Southern Railway's Western section, although they were sometimes used on inter-regional freights. In order to increase maintenance efficiency, all Urie S15 locomotives (which had the lower boiler pressure) were concentrated at the Southern Railway's London freight depot at Feltham. This yard also featured the Maunsell S15s, which were allocated to Exmouth Junction, Hither Green and Salisbury, demonstrating the "go anywhere" nature of the class. Despite the design being only a year newer, the S15s outlasted their N15 King Arthur class counterparts because of their dual freight/passenger abilities, though they were retired between 1962 and 1966 as part of the British Railways Modernisation Plan. Maunsell S15 number 30837 became the final member of the class in operation, returning to Feltham in January 1966 to work a farewell rail tour. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2964379 | 1,475,701 |
15,344 | On 25 August 2012, the plan to order was confirmed by both Swedish and Swiss authorities. Deliveries were expected to run from 2018 to 2021 at a fixed price of CHF 3.126 billion (US$3.27 billion) including development costs, mission planning systems, initial spares and support, training, and certification; the Swedish government also guaranteed the price, performance and operational suitability. Eight JAS 39Cs and three JAS 39Ds were to be leased from 2016 to 2020 to train Swiss pilots and allow the F-5s to be retired. In 2013, Saab moved to increase Swiss industry offsets above 100% of the deal value after the Swiss parliament's upper house voted down the deal's financing. On 27 August 2013, the National Council's Security Commission approved the purchase, followed by the lower and upper houses of the parliament's approval in September 2013. Elements of the left and center of the political spectrum often criticized the Gripen as unnecessary and too expensive. On 18 May 2014, 53.4% of Swiss voters voted against the plan in a national referendum. Reportedly, objectors questioned the role of fighter aircraft in general, and the relevance of alternatives such as UAVs, surface-to-air missiles, or cyberwarfare capabilities. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=87577 | 15,339 |
1,558,722 | The stem of this cycad resembles that of a palm, and grows 4–10 meters tall and up to 45 cm in diameter. The large photosynthetic leaves have spiral arrangement on the stem and are interspersed with many brown, hairy, triangular scale-like leaves. The photosynthetic leaves are pinnate, dark-green, somewhat glossy, and usually 150—300 centimeters long, with 60-120 leaflets per side. The leaflets are "c." 17 cm long, lanceolate, with a slightly bent margin, and a midrib that is more prominent on the paler lower surface. The leaf-stalk is 40–50 cm long, and has two rows of spines along almost its whole length. The emerging leaves are hairy and show involute vernation; and the young leaves have a distinct bluish tint, which distinguishes it from its relatives "C. rumphii" and "C. circinalis". The pollen cone is spindle-shaped, 30–60 cm high and 10–15 cm in diameter, and varies in color from orange to pale brown. The pollen cone scales have a sharp apical spine. The ovulate cones are composed of overlapping, yellow, hairy megasporophylls, each 29—32 centimeters long, with 5-13 marginal teeth per side, and bearing 4-10 ovules along their edges. The seeds are ovoid, 50—60 millimeters in size with a red-brown fleshy seed coat, and a spongy endocarp. This spongy endocarp is characteristic of this species, and allows the seeds to float. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33966690 | 1,557,837 |
310,296 | In 1934, delays in the design and production of the Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks were becoming apparent. Designs for a stopgap tank were solicited from Krupp, MAN, Henschel, and Daimler-Benz. The final design was based on the Panzer I, but larger, and with a turret mounting a 20 mm anti-tank gun. The Panzer II came about in a German Ordnance Department requirement enacted in 1934, this time proposing a 10-ton light tank development with 20mm cannon and 7.92mm machine gun armament. As was the case in developing the Panzer I, it became common practice for the new Germany, now wholly under Hitler, to skirt the rules of the Versailles Treaty and develop its systems of war under various peaceful disguises such as farm equipment. As such, this new light tank design fell under the designation of "Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper 100" (or "LaS 100") under the guise that it was a farm tractor. The Panzer II was around 50% heavier than the I and added a 20 mm Solothurn cannon as main armament as well as increasing maximum armour to 30 mm. Production began in 1935, but it took another eighteen months for the first combat-ready tank to be delivered. It was also sent to Spain from 1937, and the Panzer II proved more capable against light infantry, but no better when faced with capable anti-tank guns or other tanks. Despite these weaknesses production continued until 1941, at the outbreak of war the German Army had 955 PzKpfw IIs and almost 4,000 were built in total. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29073044 | 310,128 |
142,023 | In more recent times, the university was the focus of the "Glasgow Group" of poets and literary critics, including Philip Hobsbaum, Tom Leonard and Alasdair Gray. The university boasts one of Europe's largest collections of life scientists, as well as having been the training ground of numerous politicians including former Prime Ministers Bonar Law and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, former First Minister Donald Dewar, former leader of the Liberal Democrats and former Rector Charles Kennedy, Defence Secretaries Liam Fox and Des Browne, the founder of the UK Independence Party Alan Sked, former Labour Party leader John Smith, Business Secretary Vince Cable, former leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Menzies Campbell, and current First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Other notable alumni include banker Fred Goodwin, actor Gerard Butler, Rangers and Scottish footballer Neil Murray, actor, writer, television and radio broadcaster Colin Lamont (aka Scottie McClue), novelist Robin Jenkins, founder of the world's largest non-governmental development organisation BRAC Fazle Hasan Abed, television writers Armando Iannucci and Steven Moffat, comedian Greg Hemphill, television presenter Neil Oliver, journalists Andrew Neil and Raman Bhardwaj, and musicians Emeli Sandé and Simon Neil. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39569 | 141,965 |
1,032,782 | A single variant of the Mk VIII was designed, the Alecto self-propelled gun. Originally known as the Harry Hopkins 1 CS (for "Close Support"), the Alecto was eventually given the General Staff specification number A25 E2. The Alecto mounted a howitzer on a lightweight version of the Mk VIII chassis which had the turret removed so that the howitzer could be placed low down in the hull, and the armour was reduced to a thickness of to reduce its weight, resulting in a maximum speed of . The Alecto was designed to replace the half-tracks carrying support weapons, such as howitzers, which British airborne formations used during the conflict, and was first developed in late 1942. It could also have been used in place of 75mm gun equipped armoured cars. The War Office had ordered 2,200 Alectos but only a small number were ever produced, none of which saw service; many were converted into bulldozers for use by Royal Engineer units. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4601125 | 1,032,246 |
700,696 | The new objection to the Homunculus Argument claims that it relies on a naive view of sensation. Because the eyes respond to light rays is no reason for supposing that the visual field requires eyes to see it. Visual sensation (the argument can be extrapolated to the other senses) bears no direct resemblance to the light rays at the retina, nor to the character of what they are reflected from or pass through or what was glowing at the origin of them. The reason given is that they only bear the similarities of "co-variation" with what arrives at the retinas. Just as the currents in a wire going to a loudspeaker vary proportionately with the sounds that emanate from it but have no other likeness, so too does sensation vary proportionately (and not necessarily directly) with what causes it but bears no other resemblance to the input. This implies that the colour we experience is actually a cortical occurrence, and that light rays and external surfaces are not themselves coloured. The proportional variations with which cortical colour changes are there in the external world, but not colour as we experience it. Contrary to what Gilbert Ryle believed, those who argue for sensations being brain processes do not have to hold that there is a "picture" in the brain since this is impossible according to this theory since actual pictures in the external world are not coloured. It is plain that Ryle unthinkingly carried over what the eyes do to the nature of sensation; A. J. Ayer at the time described Ryle's position as "very weak". So there is no "screen" in front of cortical "eyes", no mental objects before one. As Thomas Hobbes put it: "How do we take notice of sense?—by sense itself". Moreland Perkins has characterized it thus: that sensing is not like kicking a ball, but rather "kicking a kick". Today there are still philosophers arguing for colour being a property of external surfaces, light sources, etc. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=613052 | 700,331 |
2,047,743 | The ability to design and manufacture devices to perform microfluidic experiments using well established approaches lends to the utility of studying chemical biology with microfluidics. The most common material used for device manufacturing is polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). This material is far and away the most popular among researchers due to its compatible properties with biological systems. These characteristics include its relative inertness to most substances, its transparency to ultraviolet and visible light, its malleability and its permeability to gases. Additionally, PDMS surfaces can be treated to render them either hydrophilic or hydrophobic, depending on the desired application. This versatility allows PDMS to be used in nearly all microfluidic applications. Despite its wide range of uses, there are instances where other materials are preferred. Glass is a common alternative when PDMS is not desirable. Soft lithography is the most common method for making PDMS devices. This technique is relatively cheap and can be used to make nearly any architecture used in microfluidic experiments. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36431056 | 2,046,562 |
937,854 | A number of changes were made to the prototype during testing. The main change was the addition of supporting steel beams to improve and strengthen the suspension of the tank, which increased the weight to , the maximum weight that could be carried by a Hamilcar glider. Two new prototypes were ordered by the Ordnance Department in January 1942 and were delivered by Marmon-Herrington in November 1942. They were both designated T9E1. The new tanks incorporated a number of requested changes. The turret was altered in shape; it was lightened by the removal of the power traverse mechanism and the gyro stabilizer for the main armament. The front of the hull was altered from a stepped appearance to a more sloped profile, which would provide for a better ballistic shape; the two .30-06 machine-guns were removed from the bow of the tank and the suspension was altered to try and reduce the weight of the design. However, contrary to normal practice, the Ordnance Department had placed an order for the original T9 design in April 1942, before the T9E1 models were delivered in November 1942; 500 were ordered in April and this order rapidly increased to a total of 1900, with deliveries to begin in November. However, production difficulties and design changes caused this date to be delayed several times, and it was not until April 1943 that production of the T9 actually began. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=335693 | 937,354 |
1,666,101 | However, based upon more recent research, these outcomes are no longer completely viable. For example: In case studies of the Black Sea, a modern anoxic environment, it has been shown that anoxia within the lower-levels of the water column alone do not produce significant amount of organic-rich sediments, even though sufficient organic material was supplied to the region in the Holocene. Therefore, the new theory is that "primary producers" higher in the water column are responsible for the majority of the deposition of carbon-rich sediment in continental margin environments. Based upon a study conducted involving ocean-circulation models in the Cretaceous, it was found that although conditions were relatively similar to those today, the oceans had much harsher currents that influenced the water column. The new thought is that these ocean currents were slowed by blooms of microscopic marine primary producers, which allowed for the settlement of organic-rich sediments at the seafloor, producing many of the economically productive black shale beds that are present today. To this day it remains an intensely researched subject by scholars and commercial companies alike. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2830385 | 1,665,163 |
55,356 | The Arabic language, although originating in the Arabian Peninsula, first emerged in written form in the 1st to 4th centuries CE in the southern regions of The Levant. With the advent of the early Arab conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries, Classical Arabic eventually replaced many (but not all) of the indigenous Semitic languages and cultures of the Near East. Both the Near East and North Africa saw an influx of Muslim Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula, followed later by non-Semitic Muslim Iranian and Turkic peoples. The previously dominant Aramaic dialects maintained by the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians gradually began to be sidelined, however descendant dialects of Eastern Aramaic (including the Akkadian influenced Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo and Mandaic) survive to this day among the Assyrians and Mandaeans of northern and southern Iraq, northwestern Iran, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, with up to a million fluent speakers. Eastern Aramic is a recognized language in Iraq, furthermore, Mesopotamian Arabic is the most Aramaic-Syriac influenced dialect of Arabic, due to Aramaic-Syriac having originated in Mesopotamia. Meanwhile Western Aramaic is now only spoken by a few thousand Aramean Syriac Christians in western Syria. The Arabs spread their Central Semitic language to North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and northern Sudan and Mauritania), where it gradually replaced Egyptian Coptic and many Berber languages (although Berber is still largely extant in many areas), and for a time to the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar) and Malta. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26919 | 55,333 |
209,684 | The Zhoukoudian Locality 1 has produced more than 100,000 lithic pieces. In 1979, to highlight technological evolution, Péi and Zhang partitioned the Zhoukoudian industry into three stages: the early stage typified by the simple hammer and anvil technique (slamming the core against a rock) which produced large flakes namely from soft minerals such as sandstone, weighing up to and measuring from Layer 11; the middle stage typified by the bipolar technique (smashing the core into several flakes with a hammerstone, out of which at least a few should be the correct size and shape) which made smaller flakes up to in weight and in length; and the late stage above Layer 5 typified by even smaller flakes made with harder and higher quality quartz and flint among other cobble. Quartz had to be collected some distance from the cave from local granite outcrops by the hills and riverbed. In addition to simple flakes, they also manufactured scrapers, choppers, and, towards the later end of occupation, points, burins, and awls. Nonetheless, these techniques produced highly ununiform tools, and Binford was skeptical of any evidence of cultural evolution at all. There is scanty and indefinite evidence for the modification of bones into tools. Productive contemporaneous Chinese stone tool sites include Xiǎochángliáng (similar to Zhoukoudian), Jīgōng Shān, Bose Basin (which produced large tools often in excess of 10 cm, or 4 in), Jinniushan, Dingcun, and Panxian Dadong. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=253340 | 209,577 |
2,026,546 | At its inception in late 2015, the three undergraduate founders of the Small Satellite Research Laboratory envisioned it as a space company. Two of the founders had been involved in a previous startup as part of a UGA accelerator program. Their product, a large, remote-operated, 3D-printed telescope, achieved moderate success, but was overshadowed by the work which ultimately became the foundation of the SSRL. After winning the Virginia Tech Hacks Hackathon, they left the previous startup company. The founding trio initially planned to build a small satellite crowdfunded on Kickstarter, but as the project developed, rapid increases in scope and complexity drove the founders to seek more people and new sources of funding. Currently, the lab works with NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory to construct two 3U CubeSats to be deployed into low Earth orbit. The SSRL now consists of over 50 members, and marks the first attempt at a space program at the University of Georgia. The SSRL has stated that it plans to become the university's premier space program, and to establish the school's continual presence in space. This will make the University of Georgia one of the first institutions in the state of Georgia to send a complete satellite into space. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=53334263 | 2,025,379 |
1,679,449 | Hilmers replaced another astronaut, killed in a plane crash, for his last mission. STS-42 "Discovery" launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 22, 1992. Fifty-five major experiments conducted in the International Microgravity Laboratory-1 module were provided by investigators from eleven countries, and represented a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines. During 128 orbits of the Earth, the STS-42 crew accomplished the mission's primary objective of investigating the effects of microgravity on materials processing and life sciences. In this unique laboratory in space, crew members worked around-the-clock in two shifts. Experiments investigated the microgravity effects on the growth of protein and semiconductor crystals. Biological experiments on the effects of zero gravity on plants, tissues, bacteria, insects and human vestibular response were also conducted. This eight-day mission culminated in a landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on January 30, 1992. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=604840 | 1,678,506 |
653,203 | More effective on lighter targets are the expanding bullets, the hollow point bullet and the soft point bullet. These are designed to use the hydraulic pressure of muscle tissue to expand the bullet. The hollow point peels back into several connected pieces (sometimes referred to as petals due to their appearance) causing the bullet to create a larger area of permanent damage. The hollow point fills with body tissue and fluids on impact, then expands as the bullet continues to have matter pushed into it. This process is informally called mushrooming, as the ideal result is a shape that resembles a mushroom—a cylindrical base, topped with a wide surface where the tip of the bullet has peeled back to expose more area while traveling through a body. For the purposes of aerodynamic efficiency, due to the hollowpoint not creating drag, the tip of the hollowpoint will often be tipped with a pointed polymer 'nose' which may also aid in expansion by functioning as a piston upon impact pushing the hollow point open. A copper-plated hollowpoint loaded in a .44 Magnum, for example, with an original weight of 240 grains (15.55 g) and a diameter of 0.43 inch (11 mm) might mushroom on impact to form a rough circle with a diameter of 0.70 inch (18 mm) and a final weight of 239 grains (15.48 g). This is excellent performance; almost the entire weight is retained, and the frontal surface area increased 63%. Penetration of the hollowpoint would be less than half that of a similar nonexpanding bullet, and the resulting wound or permanent cavity would be much wider. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=186150 | 652,860 |
1,474,400 | It is suspected that "H. sapiens" ancestors’ did not initially forage on the forest floor; instead they migrated from the trees for various reasons. In that environment, they survived on a diet high in plant matter with some insects and little amounts of meat. They were not very formidable opponents to more dominant mammals such as large ancient cats (lions, leopards) but their ability to be better hunters and gatherers along with their corresponding brain development, gave them the advantage to add high-calorie nutrient supplies such as meat to their diet. Analysis of the jaws and skull of the supposed human ancestors show that they had larger, stronger jaw muscles attached to the skull which would be expected with a diet rich in fruit and plants. The back set of molars were much larger for this reason also. The dependence on these higher-calorie foods came from the inefficiency of bipedalism and the growing energy costs of climbing tall trees. Human ancestors are thought to have had more muscles connecting the skull, neck, and shoulders/back area (similar to apes) which caused their neck and skull regions to appear to sag, such as non-human primate species do. These diminished muscles allow the human head to be held in its current ‘upright’ position and lets the occipitofrontalis muscle, or the forehead, to function as an aid to expressions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32156908 | 1,473,569 |
1,151,143 | The initial archaeological studies of the 1940s, by Malan, Cooke and Wells, were followed up briefly by K.W. Butzer in the 1970s. Peter Beaumont of the McGregor Museum in Kimberley then carried out major excavations at the site between 1978 and 1993, with Anne Thackeray and Francis Thackeray working at the site in 1979, excavating and researching the Later Stone Age levels from cultural and archaeozoological perspectives respectively. Work led by Michael Chazan of the University of Toronto, Liora Kolska Horwitz of The Hebrew University and Francesco Berna of Simon Fraser University, in collaboration with the McGregor Museum (where excavated assemblages are housed), was carried out from around 2008. A digital model of the site was created by laser scanning, forming part of the Zamani Project. Key team members who have worked on the dating of the lower units are the late Hagai Ron (magnetostratigraphic or palaeomagnetic dating), Ari Matmon (cosmogenic isotope dating), Robyn Pickering (U/Pb dating) and Naomi Porat (Optically stimulated luminescence dating). Results of these archaeological, dating, sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental studies were first reported at a symposium convened by Chazan and Horwitz at the site. They have since been published in a series of papers, and in a special issue on the site published in 2015. In April 2021, archaeologists from the University of Toronto and the Hebrew University announced the results of magnetostratigraphy and cosmogenic dating of the cave. According to the paper published in the journal "Quaternary Science Reviews", making of the simple Oldowan tools and finding of animal bones from the thick sedimentary layer inside prove that this cave was occupied by Early Stone Age humans about 2 million years ago. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=22695001 | 1,150,536 |
1,065,424 | To support its varied activities, NIO uses the services of limited-tenure staff, including doctoral students, project assistants and post-doctoral fellows. Their numbers have grown significantly with the growth in research programmes. The largest increase has been in the number of project assistants since CSIR introduced the "Project Assistant Scheme" to tap the services of fresh graduates for enhancing the productivity of its institutions. Hired regularly through walk-in interviews, the fresh graduates are permitted by this scheme to gain hands-on exposure to oceanographic research. The graduates also have the option of becoming doctoral students through the Senior Research Fellow scheme of the Human Resource Development Group (HRDG) of CSIR. A number of universities have recognized NIO as a centre for doctoral research and about 50 scientists from amongst its staff are at present recognized by these universities as doctoral research guides. With the establishment of the Academy for Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR's institutions are poised to take major initiatives in advanced education in the country. NIO's Research Council has recommended that the institute take steps to start a school of oceanography as early as possible to address the problem of shortage of advanced manpower in ocean sciences in the country. The number of Junior Research Fellows, qualified through NET (i.e., the National Eligibility Test, conducted by CSIR), Senior Research Fellows (selected by HRDG, CSIR) and Project Assistants who are enrolled for Ph.D. in the institute is now 80. Accommodation to doctoral students is usually provided on the institute's residential campus. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1669118 | 1,064,870 |
1,836,792 | Netrin-1 and its receptors DCC and UNC-5 show a new mechanism for induction or suppression regulation of apoptosis. Evidence shows that this signaling pathway in humans is frequently inactivated. During the last 15 years, controversial data has failed to firmly establish whether DCC is indeed a tumour suppressor gene. However, the recent observations that DCC triggers cell death and is a receptor for netrin-1, a molecule recently implicated in colorectal tumorigenesis. The established role of DCC and netrin-1 during organization of the spinal cord could be viewed as a further challenge to the position that DCC inactivation might play a significant role in tumorigenesis. Recent observations on DCC's functions in intracellular signaling have renewed interest in the potential contribution of DCC inactivation to cancer. Data shows that, when engaged by netrin ligands, DCC may activate downstream signaling pathways and in settings where netrin is absent or at low levels, DCC can promote apoptosis. The binding of netrin-1 to its receptors inhibits the tumor suppressor p53 dependent apoptosis. Such receptors share the property of inducing apoptosis in the absence of ligand, hence creating a cellular state of dependence on the ligand. Thus, netrin-1 may not only be a chemotropic factor for neurons but also a survival factor. This discovery shows that netrin-1 receptor pathways play an important role in tumorigenesis. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40631926 | 1,835,743 |
1,433,303 | Established in 1996, Wapusk National Park is 11,475 square kilometres (4,430 sq mi) of protected diverse and remote wilderness, located in Northeast Manitoba along the coast of the Hudson Bay. Wapusk derives from the Cree word for "white bear", and as the meaning indicates, is a significant maternity denning area for the polar bear, "Ursus maritimus". The park is also characterized by having a transitional zone between the three biomes of arctic tundra, marine, and boreal forest. It includes a large part of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, a subarctic region bordering Hudson Bay that is mostly muskeg and wet peatlands. Wapusk National Park lies on the traditional territories of many Indigenous communities such as the Cree of York Factory, Fox Lake, Sayisi-Dene, and Inuit First Nations. Native species like Caribou and polar bears are being heavily affected by climate change through warmer temperatures, ice and permafrost melting, and changing vegetation in the park. Tourism in this park is not very high but there is concern for the negative impacts increased tourism may cause. The geology of the area has many underlying limestone formations, and a past in fur trade. Glacial processes shape many of the habitats seen today. It is one of Canada's wildest and most remote landscapes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2023242 | 1,432,499 |
261,221 | Atomic and nuclear tests can involve many hazards. Some of these were illustrated in the U.S. Castle Bravo test in 1954. The weapon design tested was a new form of hydrogen bomb, and the scientists underestimated how vigorously some of the weapon materials would react. As a result, the explosion—with a yield of 15 Mt—was over twice what was predicted. Aside from this problem, the weapon also generated a large amount of radioactive nuclear fallout, more than had been anticipated, and a change in the weather pattern caused the fallout to spread in a direction not cleared in advance. The fallout plume spread high levels of radiation for over , contaminating a number of populated islands in nearby atoll formations. Though they were soon evacuated, many of the islands' inhabitants suffered from radiation burns and later from other effects such as increased cancer rate and birth defects, as did the crew of the Japanese fishing boat "Daigo Fukuryū Maru". One crewman died from radiation sickness after returning to port, and it was feared that the radioactive fish they had been carrying had made it into the Japanese food supply. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=337775 | 261,084 |
719,464 | Muzychuk again generally finished towards the top of the standings in the 2013–14 FIDE Women's Grand Prix events, but did not win any of them and ultimately finished fourth in the overall standings. She had a better result at the Tata Steel Challengers tournament in Wijk aan Zee in early 2014, where she came in fourth place with a score of 8/13, corresponding to a performance rating of 2666. With this performance, her rating rose back to 2583. After the tournament, however, her rating fell back into the mid-2500s and would not reach 2570 again until 2017 three years later. Although her performance in classical chess was in the midst of a mild decline, Muzychuk had a major result in fast chess, winning the Women's World Blitz Championship in April. She won the tournament by a wide margin, finishing with 23/30, 2½ points ahead of Dzagnidze in second place. The championship brought her blitz rating to a career-best 2665. She had also finished in joint third place at the preceding Women's World Rapid Championship event. The World Blitz victory was her last major triumph with Slovenia. In May 2014, Muzychuk switched federations again back to her home country of Ukraine. She stated that her sister continuing to play for Ukraine as well as the new federation president Viktor Kapustin as reasons for her return. At the end of the year, she entered the Ukrainian women's national championship for the first time since she was the 2003 champion and again won the tournament. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1076780 | 719,084 |
1,613,267 | On June 21, 2009, the Krümmel reactor was restarted for the first time since the 2007 fire, and the plant started to produce electricity again but was shut down for the second time on July 4, 2009, only a few days after its two-year-long repair period. The shutdown was caused by a short circuit in a transformer that was very similar to what caused the June 2007 fire. The reactor shut down normally and was not affected. The plant's general manager resigned. In a press conference July 9, Ernst Michael Züfle, head of the nuclear division of Vattenfall, acknowledged that there was damage to "perhaps a few fuel elements." Even before the shutdown, foreign bodies—sharp shards of metal from earlier work that should have been flushed—were found to have ended up, potentially dangerously, in the reactor and had, to some degree, been cleaned out. On July 7, Wulf Bernotat, CEO of E.on, wrote in a sharply worded letter to Vattenfall management in Sweden that his company was "appalled" by the handling of safety procedures at the plant, according to a lengthy report in "Spiegel". The report went on to discuss how the accident could impact the German national debate about nuclear power plant license extensions. Before new transformers could be installed, it was decided in March 2011 to decommission the plant. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12241746 | 1,612,362 |
378,372 | A pacemaker may be implanted whilst a person is awake using local anesthetic to numb the skin with or without sedation, or asleep using a general anesthetic. An antibiotic is usually given to reduce the risk of infection. Pacemakers are generally implanted in the front of the chest in the region of the left or right shoulder. The skin is prepared by clipping or shaving any hair over the implant site before cleaning the skin with a disinfectant such as chlorhexidine. An incision is made below the collar bone and a space or pocket is created under the skin to house the pacemaker generator. This pocket is usually created just above the pectoralis major muscle (prepectoral), but in some cases the device may be inserted beneath the muscle (submuscular). The lead or leads are fed into the heart through a large vein guided by X-ray imaging (fluoroscopy). The tips of the leads may be positioned within the right ventricle, the right atrium, or the coronary sinus, depending on the type of pacemaker required. Surgery is typically completed within 30 to 90 minutes. Following implantation, the surgical wound should be kept clean and dry until it has healed. Care should be taken to avoid excessive movement of the shoulder within the first few weeks to reduce the risk of dislodging the pacemaker leads. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=80732 | 378,177 |
329,908 | Dermatopathology is a subspecialty of anatomic pathology that focuses on the skin and the rest of the integumentary system as an organ. It is unique, in that there are two paths a physician can take to obtain the specialization. All general pathologists and general dermatologists train in the pathology of the skin, so the term dermatopathologist denotes either of these who has reached a certainly level of accreditation and experience; in the US, either a general pathologist or a dermatologist can undergo a 1 to 2 year fellowship in the field of dermatopathology. The completion of this fellowship allows one to take a subspecialty board examination, and becomes a board certified dermatopathologist. Dermatologists are able to recognize most skin diseases based on their appearances, anatomic distributions, and behavior. Sometimes, however, those criteria do not lead to a conclusive diagnosis, and a skin biopsy is taken to be examined under the microscope using usual histological tests. In some cases, additional specialized testing needs to be performed on biopsies, including immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, flow cytometry, and molecular-pathologic analysis. One of the greatest challenges of dermatopathology is its scope. More than 1500 different disorders of the skin exist, including cutaneous eruptions ("rashes") and neoplasms. Therefore, dermatopathologists must maintain a broad base of knowledge in clinical dermatology, and be familiar with several other specialty areas in Medicine. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48791 | 329,733 |
803,446 | Rovers which land on celestial bodies far from the Earth, such as the Mars Exploration Rovers, cannot be remotely controlled in real-time since the speed at which radio signals travel is far too slow for "real-time" or "near-real-time" communication. For example, sending a signal from Mars to Earth takes between 3 and 21 minutes. These rovers are thus capable of operating autonomously with little assistance from ground control as far as navigation and data acquisition are concerned, although they still require human input for identifying promising targets in the distance to which to drive, and determining how to position itself to maximize solar energy. Giving a rover some rudimentary visual identification capabilities to make simple distinctions can allow engineers to speed up the reconnaissance. During the NASA Sample Return Robot Centennial Challenge, a rover, named "Cataglyphis", successfully demonstrated autonomous navigation, decision-making, and sample detection, retrieval, and return capabilities. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10297736 | 803,017 |
123,845 | The first published causal explanation of the motions of planets was Johannes Kepler's "Astronomia nova," published in 1609. He concluded, based on Tycho Brahe's observations on the orbit of Mars, that the planet's orbits were ellipses. This break with ancient thought was happening around the same time that Galileo was proposing abstract mathematical laws for the motion of objects. He may (or may not) have performed the famous experiment of dropping two cannonballs of different weights from the tower of Pisa, showing that they both hit the ground at the same time. The reality of that particular experiment is disputed, but he did carry out quantitative experiments by rolling balls on an inclined plane. His theory of accelerated motion was derived from the results of such experiments and forms a cornerstone of classical mechanics. In 1673 Christiaan Huygens described in his "Horologium Oscillatorium" the first two laws of motion. The work is also the first modern treatise in which a physical problem (the accelerated motion of a falling body) is idealized by a set of parameters then analyzed mathematically and constitutes one of the seminal works of applied mathematics. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19555586 | 123,794 |
226,952 | In a large proportion (50–70%) of cases, the propensity for malignant hyperthermia is due to a mutation of the ryanodine receptor (type 1), located on the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), the organelle within skeletal muscle cells that stores calcium. RYR1 opens in response to conformational changes in the L-type calcium channels following membrane depolarisation, thereby resulting in a drastic increase in intracellular calcium levels and muscle contraction. RYR1 has two sites believed to be important for reacting to changing concentrations: the A-site and the I-site. The A-site is a high affinity binding site that mediates RYR1 opening. The I-site is a lower affinity site that mediates the protein's closing. Caffeine, halothane, and other triggering agents act by drastically increasing the affinity of the A-site for and concomitantly decreasing the affinity of the I-site in mutant proteins. also affect RYR1 activity, causing the protein to close by acting at either the A- or I-sites. In MH mutant proteins, the affinity for at either one of these sites is greatly reduced. The result of these alterations is greatly increased release due to a lowered activation and heightened deactivation threshold. The process of sequestering this excess consumes large amounts of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the main cellular energy carrier, and generates the excessive heat (hyperthermia) that is the hallmark of the disease. The muscle cell is damaged by the depletion of ATP and possibly the high temperatures, and cellular constituents "leak" into the circulation, including potassium, myoglobin, creatine, phosphate and creatine kinase. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=722421 | 226,836 |
932,797 | In Wilber's first proposal for the story that became "Space Seed", dated August 29, 1966 (shortly before the first episode of "Star Trek" aired) the villain was Harold Erickson, an ordinary criminal exiled into space. He sought to free his gang from "Botany Bay", seize "Enterprise", and become a pirate. Parts of the story were inspired by the use of penal colonies in the 18th century, and characterizations were based on descriptions from the series' writer's bible. As a result, several elements of the draft differed from how the characters behaved in the series; for example, the draft includes a scene where Spock defeats Kirk at chess by cheating. Producer Gene L. Coon told Wilber that his work was the best outline he had seen during his time on "Star Trek". Fellow producer Bob Justman was less enthusiastic; he compared it negatively to "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers", and felt the concept would be too expensive to film. There were also concerns that an unsolicited script submitted by science fiction author Philip José Farmer resembled the proposed plot which, as Roddenberry had corresponded with Farmer, might lead to litigation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=413157 | 932,305 |
1,397,157 | Surface engineering techniques are being used in the automotive, aerospace, missile, power, electronic, biomedical, textile, petroleum, petrochemical, chemical, steel, cement, machine tools and construction industries including road surfacing. Surface engineering techniques can be used to develop a wide range of functional properties, including physical, chemical, electrical, electronic, magnetic, mechanical, wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant properties at the required substrate surfaces. Almost all types of materials, including metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites can be coated on similar or dissimilar materials. It is also possible to form coatings of newer materials (e.g., met glass. beta-CN), graded deposits, multi-component deposits etc. The advanced materials and deposition processes including recent developments in ultra hard materials like BAM (AlMgB compound)are fully covered in a recent book[R. Chattopadhyay:Green Tribology,Green Surface Engineering and Global Warming,ASM International,USA,2014] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6822551 | 1,396,384 |
681,248 | To prove the soundness of the IAe 33 design, two gliders built under contract by another expatriate, Reimar Horten, were constructed and used for aerodynamics testing in 1948–1949, including flights by Tank himself. These tests revealed significant problems with lateral stability, resulting in modifications to the tail to address this problem before construction began on two prototype airframes. Due to the lack of modern machinery, the all-metal fabrication relied heavily on handcrafting, and fabricating the prototypes was a labor-intensive procedure. President Perón envisioned that a benefit of setting up an aviation factory in Argentina would be to introduce production standards comparable to world-class manufacturing facilities. However, Tank realized that production tools and jigs were not feasible at this stage and relied instead on essentially hand-built examples. The first airframe (No. 01) reserved for static testing, was subsequently destroyed during the tests. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2616710 | 680,893 |
545,485 | In August 1940, Cockcroft travelled to the United States as part of the Tizard Mission. Because Britain had developed many new technologies but lacked the industrial capacity to fully exploit them, it was decided to share them with the United States, although that nation was not yet at war. The information provided by the Tizard Mission contained some of the greatest scientific advances made during the war. The shared technology included radar technologies, in particular the greatly improved cavity magnetron designed by Oliphant's group at Birmingham, which the American historian James Phinney Baxter III described as "the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores", the design for the proximity fuze, details of Frank Whittle's jet engine and the Frisch–Peierls memorandum describing the feasibility of an atomic bomb. Though these may be considered the most significant, many other items were also transported, including designs for rockets, superchargers, gunsights and submarine detection devices. He returned to Britain in December 1940. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=352564 | 545,199 |
596,600 | The administration of the Mesopotamian countryside was also motivated by a desire to ameliorate various kinds of risk that could affect agricultural activities and rural and urban society more generally. The irrigation system was also designed to limit the risk of floods, by means of basins that could retain excess water and canals that could drain it away, as well as dams. The fragility of the soil, particularly in the south, also required management and specific cultural practices to protect it. The most simple of these was the practice of crop rotation, which was not difficult since there was no shortage of cultivable land in the region. The choice of crops and animals that were adapted to the dry climate and poor soils (barley, date palms, sheep) was another solution to this problem. The layout of the fields seems to have been designed to protect them from erosion: lines of trees were planted at the edges of the cultivated area to protect it from the winds, some areas were left fallow so that the plants and weeds would grow there and protect the soil from wind erosion. The practice of combining palm orchards and gardens enabled the large trees to protect smaller plants from the sun and harsh winds. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59427724 | 596,295 |
55,109 | The simplest type of neural circuit is a reflex arc, which begins with a sensory input and ends with a motor output, passing through a sequence of neurons connected in series. This can be shown in the "withdrawal reflex" causing a hand to jerk back after a hot stove is touched. The circuit begins with sensory receptors in the skin that are activated by harmful levels of heat: a special type of molecular structure embedded in the membrane causes heat to change the electrical field across the membrane. If the change in electrical potential is large enough to pass the given threshold, it evokes an action potential, which is transmitted along the axon of the receptor cell, into the spinal cord. There the axon makes excitatory synaptic contacts with other cells, some of which project (send axonal output) to the same region of the spinal cord, others projecting into the brain. One target is a set of spinal interneurons that project to motor neurons controlling the arm muscles. The interneurons excite the motor neurons, and if the excitation is strong enough, some of the motor neurons generate action potentials, which travel down their axons to the point where they make excitatory synaptic contacts with muscle cells. The excitatory signals induce contraction of the muscle cells, which causes the joint angles in the arm to change, pulling the arm away. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21944 | 55,086 |
966,047 | The main risk associated with the administration of medications to stimulate the ovaries is ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS). This is a transient syndrome in which there is increased permeability of the blood vessels, resulting in fluid loss from the vessels into the surrounding tissues. In most cases the syndrome is mild, with symptoms such as abdominal bloating, mild discomfort and nausea. In moderate OHSS there is increased abdominal bloating resulting in pain and vomiting. Reduced urine output may occur. Severe OHSS is serious with even further bloating so that the abdomen appears very distended, thirst and dehydration occur with minimal urine output. There may be shortness of breath and there is an increased risk of DVT and/or pulmonary embolism. Kidney and liver function can be compromised. Hospitalisation under specialist care is indicated. There is no treatment for OHSS, supportive care until the symptoms naturally resolve is required. If an hCG trigger has been used with no embryo transfer, OHSS usually resolves in 7–10 days. If an embryo transfer has occurred and pregnancy results, the symptoms may persist for several weeks. Doctors reduce the likelihood of OHSS occurring by decreasing the doses of gonadotropins (FSH) administered, using a GnRH agonist trigger (instead of an hCG trigger) and freezing all embryos for transfer rather than conducted a fresh embryo transfer. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10990255 | 965,538 |
1,507,907 | Considering geological and structural units of Iran, three main structural units or zones could be distinguished in Iran. These units or zones are separated from each other by ophiolite–bearing sutures. Other criteria such as structural style, crustal character and age of basement consolidation, age and intensity of deformation, age and nature of magmatism, are used to subdivide these major zones into smaller elements. The three major units and their main constituents could be defined as the southern, central and northern units. The southern unit has a crystalline basement consolidated in the Precambrian time and a platform–type Paleozoic development and comprises the Zagros folded belt, southern and southwestern parts of the Zagros. This section made a part of the Arabian Plate that was located on the margin of Rodinia and Pannotia in the Neoproterozoic, and of Gondwana in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic. The central unit, which comprises the central Iran and the Alborz, is interpreted as an assemblage of fragments that were in the vicinity of the Arabian Plate and formed a marginal section of Rodinia and Pannotia in the Neoproterozoic and of Gondwana in the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian. These fragments were detached from Gondwana in the Carboniferous. They were submerged, moved northwards, and were finally attached to the Eurasian section of the northern supercontinent Laurasia in the Late Triassic. These fragments or microplates were fused together and made the Iranian Plate which was rejoined by Gondwanic Afro-Arabia in the Late Cretaceous. As Afro-Arabia moved northwards towards Eurasia, the Arabian Plate ultimately collided with the Iranian Plate in the Miocene. Finally there is the northern unit which is separated from the central unit by the North Iran Suture. It is characterized by continental crust including remnants of more or less cratonized former Paleozoic oceanic crust that seems to reflect the Paleotethys. The northern unit represents a marginal strip of the Hercynian realm of Central Asia- broadly overlapped by the Alpine realm. It was deformed and largely consolidated by the Early Cimmerian folding and the Late Alpine folding. The northern unit comprises the South Caspian Depression and the Kopet Dagh Range. These three main structural units are divided into some smaller geological and structural subdivisions which include the following zones: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44255536 | 1,507,061 |
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