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424,833 | According to calculations of Virginia's state auditor, some 4,700 free black males and more than 25,000 male slaves between eighteen and forty five years of age were fit for service. Two companies were raised from laborers of two local hospitals-Winder and Jackson-as well as a formal recruiting center created by General Ewell and staffed by Majors James Pegram and Thomas P. Turner. In all, they managed to recruit about 200 men. They paraded down the streets of Richmond, albeit without weapons. At least one such review had to be cancelled due not merely to lack of weaponry, but also lack of uniforms or equipment. These units did not see combat; Richmond fell without a battle to Union armies one week later in early April 1865. These two companies were the sole exception to the Confederacy's policy of spurning black soldiery, never saw combat, and came too late in the war to matter. In his memoirs, Davis stated "There did not remain time enough to obtain any result from its provisions". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15799614 | 424,625 |
30,545 | The effect of the mirror flaw on scientific observations depended on the particular observation—the core of the aberrated PSF was sharp enough to permit high-resolution observations of bright objects, and spectroscopy of point sources was affected only through a sensitivity loss. However, the loss of light to the large, out-of-focus halo severely reduced the usefulness of the telescope for faint objects or high-contrast imaging. This meant nearly all the cosmological programs were essentially impossible, since they required observation of exceptionally faint objects. This led politicians to question NASA's competence, scientists to rue the cost which could have gone to more productive endeavors, and comedians to make jokes about NASA and the telescope. In the 1991 comedy "", in a scene where historical disasters are displayed, Hubble is pictured with RMS "Titanic" and LZ 129 "Hindenburg". Nonetheless, during the first three years of the Hubble mission, before the optical corrections, the telescope still carried out a large number of productive observations of less demanding targets. The error was well characterized and stable, enabling astronomers to partially compensate for the defective mirror by using sophisticated image processing techniques such as deconvolution. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40203 | 30,535 |
2,711 | In June 1942, the US Army established the Manhattan Project to handle its part in the atom bomb project and began the process of transferring responsibility from the Office of Scientific Research and Development to the military. In September, Groves was appointed director of what became known as the Manhattan Project. He selected Oppenheimer to head the project's secret weapons laboratory. This was a choice that surprised many because Oppenheimer had left-wing political views and no record as a leader of large projects. Groves was concerned by the fact that Oppenheimer did not have a Nobel Prize and might not have had the prestige to direct fellow scientists. However, he was impressed by Oppenheimer's singular grasp of the practical aspects of designing and constructing an atomic bomb, and by the breadth of his knowledge. As a military engineer, Groves knew that this would be vital in an interdisciplinary project that would involve not just physics, but chemistry, metallurgy, ordnance and engineering. Groves also detected in Oppenheimer something that many others did not, an "overweening ambition" that Groves reckoned would supply the drive necessary to push the project to a successful conclusion. Isidor Rabi considered the appointment "a real stroke of genius on the part of General Groves, who was not generally considered to be a genius". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39034 | 2,711 |
458,995 | On October 21, 1996, the fabless semiconductor company Quantum Effect Devices (QED) announced a PowerPC 603-compatible processor named "PowerPC 603q" at the Microprocessor Forum. Despite its name, it did not have anything in common with any other 603. It was a from the ground up implementation of the 32-bit PowerPC architecture targeted at the high-end embedded market developed over two years. As such, it was small, simple, energy efficient, but powerful; equaling the more expensive 603e while drawing less power. It had an in-order, five-stage pipeline with a single integer unit, a double-precision floating-point unit (FPU) and separate 16 KB instruction and 8 KB data caches. While the integer unit was a brand new design, the FPU was derived from the R4600 to save time. It was 69 mm small using a 0.5 μm fabrication process and drew just 1.2 W at 120 MHz. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8632684 | 458,771 |
856,518 | Despite the increasing popularity of LBM in simulating complex fluid systems, this novel approach has some limitations. At present, high-Mach number flows in aerodynamics are still difficult for LBM, and a consistent thermo-hydrodynamic scheme is absent. However, as with Navier–Stokes based CFD, LBM methods have been successfully coupled with thermal-specific solutions to enable heat transfer (solids-based conduction, convection and radiation) simulation capability. For multiphase/multicomponent models, the interface thickness is usually large and the density ratio across the interface is small when compared with real fluids. Recently this problem has been resolved by Yuan and Schaefer who improved on models by Shan and Chen, Swift, and He, Chen, and Zhang. They were able to reach density ratios of 1000:1 by simply changing the equation of state. It has been proposed to apply Galilean Transformation to overcome the limitation of modelling high-speed fluid flows. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5074413 | 856,063 |
12,917 | In the Golan Heights, the Syrians attacked two Israeli armored brigades, an infantry brigade, two paratrooper battalions and eleven artillery batteries with five divisions (the 7th, 9th and 5th, with the 1st and 3rd in reserve) and 188 batteries. At the onset of the battle, the Israeli brigades of some 3,000 troops, 180 tanks and 60 artillery pieces faced off against three infantry divisions with large armor components comprising 28,000 Syrian troops, 800 tanks and 600 artillery pieces. In addition, the Syrians deployed two armored divisions from the second day onwards. To fight the opening phase of a possible battle, before reserves arrived, Israeli high command had, conforming to the original plan, allocated a single armored brigade, the 188th, accepting a disparity in tank numbers of eighteen to one. When the warning by King Hussein of an imminent Syrian attack was conveyed, Elazar at first only assigned two additional tank companies from 7th Armored Brigade: "We'll have one hundred tanks against their eight hundred. That ought to be enough". Eventually, his deputy, Israel Tal, ordered the entire 7th Armored Brigade to be brought up. Efforts had been made to improve the Israeli defensive position. The "Purple Line" ran along a series of low dormant volcanic cones, "tels", in the north and deep ravines in the south. It was covered by a continuous tank ditch, bunker complexes and dense minefields. Directly west of this line a series of tank ramps were constructed: earthen platforms on which a Centurion tank could position itself with only its upper turret and gun visible, offering a substantial advantage when duelling the fully exposed enemy tanks. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34276 | 12,912 |
1,995,184 | On the other hand, some insist that the choice of whether or not to shoe should be considered on a case-by-case basis. They agree that it is favorable to allow horses to be shoeless when possible, for the same reasons as those listed above. They also point out, however, that the use of shoes can be beneficial in many instances. This includes times when wear of the hoof exceeds its growth, or when extra traction is needed for horses in competition. Horseshoes can also be used to correct lameness, stabilize hoof cracks, and realign bone in the case of laminitis. Many proponents of this ideal argue for the natural development of proper hoof structure at a young age, guided only by appropriate trimming and shaping of the hoof as needed. In the first three years in a horse’s life, adequate hoof development stems mainly from stimulation of the horse receptors during normal exercise and turn out; however, the intense training experienced by two-year-old racehorses puts excess stress on the immature bone structure. When the horse is shod to alleviate the resulting discomfort, the hoof receptors lose contact with the ground, which further weakens the foot. Without proper treatment, this will often lead to the development of chronic hoof problems. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9630965 | 1,994,041 |
179,626 | Succinic acid () is a dicarboxylic acid with the chemical formula (CH)(COH). The name derives from Latin "succinum", meaning amber. In living organisms, succinic acid takes the form of an anion, succinate, which has multiple biological roles as a metabolic intermediate being converted into fumarate by the enzyme succinate dehydrogenase in complex 2 of the electron transport chain which is involved in making ATP, and as a signaling molecule reflecting the cellular metabolic state. It is marketed as food additive E363. Succinate is generated in mitochondria via the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA). Succinate can exit the mitochondrial matrix and function in the cytoplasm as well as the extracellular space, changing gene expression patterns, modulating epigenetic landscape or demonstrating hormone-like signaling. As such, succinate links cellular metabolism, especially ATP formation, to the regulation of cellular function. Dysregulation of succinate synthesis, and therefore ATP synthesis, happens in some genetic mitochondrial diseases, such as Leigh syndrome, and Melas syndrome, and degradation can lead to pathological conditions, such as malignant transformation, inflammation and tissue injury. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=97039 | 179,533 |
199,100 | In contrast to some "radicals", Parsons was a defender of modernity. He believed that modern civilization, with its technology and its constantly evolving institutions, was ultimately strong, vibrant, and essentially progressive. He acknowledged that the future had no inherent guarantees, but as sociologists Robert Holton and Bryan Turner said that Parsons was not nostalgic and that he did not believe in the past as a lost "golden age" but that he maintained that modernity generally had improved conditions, admittedly often in troublesome and painful ways but usually positively. He had faith in humanity's potential but not naïvely. When asked at the Brown Seminary in 1973 if he was optimistic about the future, he answered, "Oh, I think I'm basically optimistic about the human prospects in the long run." Parsons pointed out that he had been a student at Heidelberg at the height of the vogue of Oswald Spengler, author of "The Decline of the West", "and he didn't give the West more than 50 years of continuing vitality after the time he wrote... Well, its more than 50 years later now, and I don't think the West has just simply declined. He was wrong in thinking it was the end." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54041 | 198,997 |
628,186 | In addition to being a fission product of uranium, as described above, another way to produce ruthenium is to start with molybdenum, which has a price averaging between $10 and $20/kg, in contrast with ruthenium's $1860/kg. The isotope Mo, which has an abundance of 9.6% in natural molybdenum, can be transmuted to Mo by slow neutron irradiation. Mo and its daughter product, Tc, both have beta-decay half-lives of roughly 14 minutes. The end product is stable Ru. Alternately, it can be produced by the neutron inactivation of Tc; the resulting Tc has a half-life of 16 seconds and decays to the stable Ru. Given that Technetium-99 is among the most problematic long-lived fission products and - unlike its nuclear isomer - has no known applications, production of Ruthenium from nuclear waste derived Technetium appears particularly promising. However, if Ruthenium that can be used without having to wait for nuclear decays to occur is desired, a particularly isotopically and chemically pure Technetium-99 target is needed. has important medical applications and the production of waste from it is unavoidable. If Ruthenium is produced from such a source, a relatively pure feedstock can be guaranteed and it might be possible to generate economic benefit from both the waste disposal of and the subsequent sale of Ruthenium. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1230653 | 627,851 |
1,975,498 | Alabama's Cretaceous rocks have been studied since at least as far back as 1856. In 1919 additional interest was attracted to the local Cretaceous system when a Professional Paper published by the United States Geological Survey listed at least a dozen local sources of contemporary plant fossils. USGS Professional Paper 112 listed sources of Alabama plant fossils in the vicinities of the following towns: Centerville, Cottondale, Cowikee Creek, Eufaula, Glen Allen, Havana, Mapleville, Sanders Ferry Bluff, Shirleys, Snow Plantation, Soap Hill, Tuscaloosa, and Whites Bluff. These sites have produced at least a hundred different kinds of plant over the ensuing years. However, some of these sites were lost after being submerged in the construction of a lock system on the Warrior River. In July 1961, a fossil discovery occurred that author Marian Murray called "one of the most exciting" in the state's history. A Washington County farmer located not far from Millry uncovered a large fossil vertebra while ploughing. The vertebra was later found to belong to "Basilosaurus", the primitive Tertiary whale. Further excavation found that almost all of the animal's skeleton was preserved there. Among the recovered remains were 118 vertebrae, 8 ribs, and a six-foot skull with teeth. The bones were taken to Tuscaloosa for the University of Alabama to be made into a museum exhibit. More recently, in 1984 "Basilosaurus cetoides" was designated the Alabama state fossil. In 2005, the new tyrannosauroid "Appalachiosaurus" was named based on local Cretaceous fossils. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37799052 | 1,974,361 |
1,745,879 | The 7th Infantry Division was formed the following month and placed under the command of Major-General Richard O'Connor. The division was deployed to Palestine on internal security duties as part of a build-up of 18,500 men in the region. This force then began to suppress the revolt. Meanwhile, Palestinian guerrillas had overrun the Old City of Jerusalem. O'Connor's men proceeded to sweep the area, declaring the Old City free of militants on 19 October. The same day, the division seized Acre and by the end of the month were clearing Jaffa of rebels. Many Palestinians were detained and rebel activity significantly dropped off in the area. In the north, the 8th Infantry Division, under Major-General Bernard Montgomery, and Special Night Squads engaged in counter-terror operations, with O'Connor writing that one brigadier "always encouraged his men to be brutal". General Officer Commanding British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan Robert Haining wrote in late 1938 that "unnecessary violence, vindictiveness ..., [and] killing in cold blood" had to be curbed. O'Connor was likewise opposed to the measures in the north, and wrote "harshness and unnecessary violence on the part of our soldiers" had to be curbed. During the operation in Jerusalem, only four to nineteen guerrillas were killed. In early 1939, the revolt finally came to an end. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4468060 | 1,744,894 |
100,913 | Realising the size and scope of the task ahead, Carter sought help from Albert Lythgoe of the Metropolitan Museum's excavation team, working nearby, who readily agreed to lend a number of his staff, including Arthur Mace and archaeological photographer Harry Burton, while the Egyptian government loaned analytical chemist Alfred Lucas. The next several months were spent cataloguing and conserving the contents of the antechamber under the "often stressful" supervision of Pierre Lacau, director general of the Department of Antiquities. On 16 February 1923, Carter opened the sealed doorway and confirmed it led to a burial chamber, containing the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. The tomb was considered the best preserved and most intact pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings, and the discovery was eagerly covered by the world's press. However, much to the annoyance of other newspapers, Lord Carnarvon sold exclusive reporting rights to "The Times". Only Arthur Merton of that paper was allowed on the scene, and his vivid descriptions helped to establish Carter's reputation with the British public. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13616 | 100,868 |
1,798,207 | Henshaw sold G-AEXF to Frenchman Victor Vermoral in late 1939. During the Second World War, the aircraft was stored in a hangar in France with several owners continuing to hide it from German authorities. In 1950, Hugh Scrope found and bought it, and with Doug Bianchi's help, refurbished the aircraft to fly it back home to England. After restoration, "G-AEXF" continued its racing career but it was damaged in a landing accident in August 1951 at Shoreham. J.N. Somers, the next owner repaired it and raced "G-AEXF" again. A new owner, Ernest Crabtree, flew it last in the 1965 Manx Air Derby. By this time however, other owners had further altered this historic aircraft, resulting in lowered performance. Eventually, the derelict aircraft found its way into the hands of a poorly run museum, where it became damp, had its wings crudely sawn off, and many parts lost to souvenir hunters. In this state, Tom Storey and Martin Barraclough acquired the aircraft and rebuilt it during the late 1970s. Wishing to make the aircraft more practical to operate, a configuration closer to its original design was chosen, making "G-AEXF" look somewhat like an E2H/E3H hybrid, painted in the white and British Racing Green she wore when owned by Alex Henshaw in the 1930s. "XF" was again damaged at Redhill in late 1983, when an Auster taxied into it. The aircraft continued to be operated in the configuration as rebuilt by Storey and Barraclough until it was offered for sale. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10392720 | 1,797,198 |
1,981,936 | Around 1900, the Oxford team included the three Nickalls brothers, two of whom went on to represent England. Their contribution at university level saw Oxford romp to a 15–0 victory in 1898. Five years later, an American arrived at Oxford who was to become another 10-goal player and more famous than any of his predecessors: Devereux Milburn. Not content with gaining a rowing Blue and being on the swimming team, Milburn guided the polo team to victory in successive Varsity matches, winning by a margin of 14 goals on both occasions. Even swimming and playing polo against the same university on one day was no problem for him. He soon graduated to international level, playing number four for his country in every match between 1909 and 1927. Universally described as "the greatest back there has ever been", in his prime he had no equal. He was a pivotal member of the mighty "Big Four", the greatest side to play during that era, and one that changed the way the back position is played. Previously, the English regarded the back's role as similar to a goalkeeper in football, i.e. to stay by the goal and defend. Whereas before, polo was a gentleman's preoccupation, Milburn made a job of it. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40015233 | 1,980,797 |
176,008 | Buick's first generation of V8 was offered from 1953 through 1956. It was an OHV pushrod engine like the then-new Oldsmobile "Rocket" V8. While it was officially called by Buick the "Fireball V8" it became known as the "Nailhead" by enthusiasts for the unusual vertical alignment of its small-sized valves, features that were the result of putting both intake and exhaust valves on the intake manifold side of the "pent-roof combustion chamber" used in this engine series. (Originally, it was known to hot rodders as the “nail valve” because the valves had long stems and small heads which made them look like nails.) To offset the smaller-sized valves ( for the intake and for the exhaust) and restrictive port diameters, the Nailhead V8 family used a camshaft with greater lift and duration. The small-diameter intake runners allowed these engines to develop high torque, with many exceeding 1 ft-lb/cu in, exceptional for the time. All of the nailhead designs have a bore spacing. The high torque nature of the engine was developed to provide adequate acceleration when mated to the Dynaflow transmission which favored smoothness above most other design and marketing objectives. Dynaflow's non-shifting design was demonstrably smoother than the rough shifting automatics then available, to include GM's Hydramatic, and the Powerglide unit used by Chevrolet. After the war, manual transmissions fell out of fashion over and automatic transmissions were more popular. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1084072 | 175,916 |
461,687 | In 1953, MIT researcher Douglas T. Ross saw the "interactive display equipment" being used by radar operators, believing it would be exactly what his SAGE-related data reduction group needed. Ross and the other researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory were the sole users of the complex display systems installed for the pre-SAGE Cape Cod system. Ross claimed in an interview that they "used it for their own personal workstation." The designers of these early computers built utility programs to ensure programmers could debug software, using flowcharts on a display scope, with logical switches that could be opened and closed during the debugging session. They found that they could create electronic symbols and geometric figures to create simple circuit diagrams and flowcharts. These programs also enabled objects to be reproduced at will; it also was possible to change their orientation, linkage (flux, mechanical, lexical scoping), or scale. This presented numerous possibilities to them. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60037798 | 461,460 |
638,533 | In physical therapy, occupational therapy, and athletic training, a goniometer measures range of motion of limbs and joints of the body. These measurements help accurately track progress in a rehabilitation program. When a patient has decreased range of motion, a therapist assesses the joint before performing an intervention, and continues to use the tool to monitor progress. The therapist can take these range of motion measurements at any joint. They typically require knowledge about the anatomy of the body, particularly bony landmarks. For example, when measuring the knee joint, the therapist places the axis (point of rotation) on the lateral epicondyle of the femur, and lines up the stationary arm with the greater trochanter of the femur. Finally, the therapist lines up the moveable arm of the goniometer with the lateral malleolus of the fibula, and records a measurement using the degree scale on the circular portion of the tool. Reading accuracy is sometimes a problem with goniometers. Issues with the intra-measure (between measures) and inter-tester (between clinicians) reliability may increase as the experience of the examiner decreases. Some studies suggest that these errors can be anywhere between 5 and 10 degrees. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=898572 | 638,194 |
593,881 | Given this, and the lack of funds to develop an all-new power unit, it was decided to upgrade the A-series unit at a cost of £30 million. The result was the 'A-Plus' Series of engines. Available in , the A-Plus had stronger engine blocks and cranks, lighter pistons and improved piston rings, Spring loaded tensioner units for the timing chain and other detail changes to increase the service interval of the engine (from ). More modern SU Carburettors and revised manifold designs allowed for small improvements in power without any decrease in torque or fuel economy. Many of the improvements learnt from the Cooper-tuned units were also incorporated, with A-Plus engines having a generally higher standard of metallurgy on all units, where previously only the highest-tuned engines were upgraded in this way. This made the A-Plus engines generally longer-lived than the standard A series, which had a life between major rebuilds of around in normal service. Studies were made into upgrading the engine to use five main crankshaft bearings but the standard three-bearing crank had proven reliable even in high states of tune and at high engine speeds, so it was not deemed worth the extra funding. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1376554 | 593,577 |
2,076,232 | Cubism was one of the first avant-garde movements, together with Fauvism and Expressionism. Fauvism involved experimentation in the field of color, which was conceived in a subjective and personal way, to which they applied emotional and expressive values, independent of nature. For these artists, colors had to generate emotions, through a subjective chromatic range and brilliant workmanship. Prominent among their ranks was Henri Matisse, who practiced lithography, generally with the collaboration of the printmaker Auguste Clot. Between 1906 and 1913 he produced a series of lithographs in which he denotes the influence of Rodin, with a linear, fluid and elegant language. Other exponents were André Derain, Raoul Dufy and Maurice de Vlaminck. Derain engraved mostly on wood, in illustration of books such as Apollinaire's "Enchanter rotting" (1909), Max Jacob's "Les Œuvres burlesques et mystiques de Frère Matorel, mort au couvent de Barcelone" (1912), André Breton's "Monte de Piedad" (1916) and Antonin Artaud's "Heliogabalo" (1934). Dufy began in woodcut ("Bestiary of Orpheus" by Apollinaire, 1910), to switch to lithography after World War I ("La Belle Enfant ou L'Amour à quarante ans" by Eugène Montfort, 1930, for the publisher Vollard). Vlaminck, self-taught, produced woodcuts and lithographs, in a style similar to his paintings, which are difficult to classify chronologically, as he never dated them. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=72166508 | 2,075,034 |
1,490,646 | This 'power law' method, while commonly employed, is of questionable appropriateness in contemporary scientific applications within the context of radiation interactions in heterogeneous media. This approach dates back to the late 1930s when photon sources were restricted to low-energy x-ray units. The exponent of 2.94 relates to an empirical formula for the photoelectric process which incorporates a ‘constant’ of 2.64 × 10, which is in fact not a constant but rather a function of the photon energy. A linear relationship between Z has been shown for a limited number of compounds for low-energy x-rays, but within the same publication it is shown that many compounds do not lie on the same trendline. As such, for polyenergetic photon sources (in particular, for applications such as radiotherapy), the effective atomic number varies significantly with energy. It is possible to obtain a much more accurate single-valued "Z" by weighting against the spectrum of the source. The effective atomic number for electron interactions may be calculated with a similar approach. The cross-section based approach for determining "Z" is obviously much more complicated than the simple power-law approach described above, and this is why freely-available software has been developed for such calculations. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2814326 | 1,489,807 |
1,410,866 | Briffa's paper as published in the January 2000 issue of "Quaternary Science Reviews" showed the unusual warmth of the last century, but cautioned that the impact of human activities on tree growth made it subtly difficult to isolate a clear climate message. In February 2000 Thomas J. Crowley and Thomas S. Lowery's reconstruction incorporated data not used previously. It reached the conclusion that peak Medieval warmth only occurred during two or three short periods of 20 to 30 years, with temperatures around 1950s levels, refuting claims that 20th century warming was not unusual. An analysis by Crowley published in July 2000 compared simulations from an energy balance climate model with reconstructed mean annual temperatures from MBH99 and Crowley & Lowery (2000). While earlier reconstructed temperature variations were consistent with volcanic and solar irradiation changes plus residual variability, very large 20th-century warming closely agreed with the predicted effects of greenhouse gas emissions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5354105 | 1,410,074 |
973,963 | Two mechanisms have been utilized to explain the change in velocity of the Greenland Ice Sheets outlet glaciers. The first is the enhanced meltwater effect, which relies on additional surface melting, funneled through moulins reaching the glacier base and reducing the friction through a higher basal water pressure. (Not all meltwater is retained in the ice sheet and some moulins drain into the ocean, with varying rapidity.) This idea was observed to be the cause of a brief seasonal acceleration of up to 20% on Sermeq Kujalleq in 1998 and 1999 at Swiss Camp. The acceleration lasted between two and three months and was less than 10% in 1996 and 1997 for example. They offered a conclusion that the "coupling between surface melting and ice-sheet flow provides a mechanism for rapid, large-scale, dynamic responses of ice sheets to climate warming". Examination of recent rapid supra-glacial lake drainage documented short term velocity changes due to such events, but they had little significance to the annual flow of the large outlet glaciers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1164809 | 973,452 |
2,171,900 | The transmembrane region of many integral membrane proteins consists of one or more alpha helices. The orientations and interactions of these helices directly affect cell signaling and molecular transport across the bilayer. The hydrophobic environment of the phospholipid tails in turn modulates the position and structure of such domains and thus may influence protein function. Conversely, the bilayer itself can (locally) change the thickness of its hydrocarbon region to interact optimally with hydrophobic regions of a transmembrane protein (a.k.a. hydrophobic matching). WALPs provide an effective model for studying such interactions because of their systematic design of a core of hydrophobic, alternating alanine and leucine regions. This core is readily manipulated by extending or decreasing the number of amino acids. Another key feature is the presence of "anchoring" residues at the ends of the helix, which are tryptophan residues in the WALP versions. Substituting the anchoring tryptophan residues for charged residues, such as lysine, yields "KALP" peptides. This class of model peptides has proved useful for studying the impact of changes in lipid composition on peptide insertion. Following detailed experimental studies by various techniques, the WALP and related peptides have become commonly used model systems in computational biology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27953209 | 2,170,661 |
2,012,708 | The Hoyas closed out their regular season with two games against ranked opponents. In the first, against No. 20 Notre Dame at the Verizon Center, the teams combined to make eight of their first 12 shots, then combined to make only three of their next 16. The Hoyas had a 7–0 run to take an 18–11 lead, the last two of those points on a layup by Henry Sims that started a stretch in which he scored or assisted on the next 10 Georgetown points, giving the Hoyas a 26–18 lead. Georgetown led 28–18 at halftime and continued to pull away in the second half, including a 9–0 run that gave the Hoyas a 48–29 lead with about minutes to play, and cruised to a 59–41 victory. The Hoyas held the Fighting Irish to 33 percent shooting overall and 3-for-17 (17.6%) from three-point range, with no Notre Dame player scoring in double digits, and the Fighting Irish scored their fewest points in a game since a 61–41 loss to Washington State on March 22, 2008, in the 2008 NCAA tournament. In their final home game, Henry Sims and Jason Clark scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, and each grabbed six rebounds, while Greg Whittington came off the bench to add 15 points. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33673923 | 2,011,551 |
1,453,805 | There are three main components to the hybrid fusion fuel cycle: deuterium, tritium, and fissionable elements. Deuterium can be derived by the separation of hydrogen isotopes in seawater (see heavy water production). Tritium may be generated in the hybrid process itself by absorption of neutrons in lithium bearing compounds. This would entail an additional lithium-bearing blanket and a means of collection. Small amounts of tritium are also produced by neutron activation in nuclear fission reactors, particularly when heavy water is used as a neutron moderator or coolant. The third component is externally derived fissionable materials from demilitarized supplies of fissionables, or commercial nuclear fuel and waste streams. Fusion driven fission also offers the possibility of using thorium as a fuel, which would greatly increase the potential amount of fissionables available. The extremely energetic nature of the fast neutrons emitted during the fusion events (up to 0.17 the speed of light) can allow normally non-fissioning U to undergo fission directly (without conversion first to Pu), enabling refined natural Uranium to be used with very low enrichment, while still maintaining a deeply subcritical regime. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20766780 | 1,452,988 |
527,640 | This Bacterium’s evolution through genome expression in very detail and in comparison with other relatives of the Staphylococci as well with experiments and data that have been collected in the past. S. Capitis’ genomes with a deeper understanding of this species and how evolutionary related it is to other Bacterium (S. capitis has a closer evolutionary link to S. epidermidis than other clinically relevant coagulase negative staphylococci), we could discover with more information whether this species' cause of the disease is connected to other species. Although they cause different pathogenic virulence, they have many similar features in their genetics and morphology. The main causes of nosocomial infections, in particular nosocomial bacteremias, have emerged as coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS). The capacity to produce biofilm from implanted equipment surfaces is CoNS's most significant mechanism for pathogenicity. Starting very early, research into biofilm formation in Staphylococcus epidermidis has served as a model for other staphylococci such as Staphylococcus aureus and other CoNS species. Moreover, data also showed that S. capitis have a strain (AYP1020) that researchers use to general genomic characteristics compared to S. epidermidis’ strain (RP62a). Thus, in comparison study, S. epidermidis (RP62a) was identified as a near related with S. capitis and as the therapeutically highly significant coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS). This source showed very detailed studies of S. Capitis’ relationship among its Staph families highlighting clearly the significance between itself and S. epidermidis. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=22600247 | 527,367 |
362,153 | In March 2007, the UK government was considering fingerprinting all children aged 11 to 15 and adding the prints to a government database as part of a new passport and ID card scheme and disallowing opposition for privacy concerns. All fingerprints taken would be cross-checked against prints from 900,000 unsolved crimes. Shadow Home secretary David Davis called the plan "sinister". The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg criticised "the determination to build a surveillance state behind the backs of the British people". The UK's junior education minister Lord Adonis defended the use of fingerprints by schools, to track school attendance as well as access to school meals and libraries, and reassured the House of Lords that the children's fingerprints had been taken with the consent of the parents and would be destroyed once children left the school. An Early Day Motion which called on the UK Government to conduct a full and open consultation with stakeholders about the use of biometrics in schools, secured the support of 85 Members of Parliament (Early Day Motion 686). Following the establishment in the United Kingdom of a Conservative and Liberal Democratic coalition government in May 2010, the UK ID card scheme was scrapped. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=84777 | 361,963 |
1,116,591 | The South African Air Force (SAAF) also served with distinction in PRU duties. In February 1943 60 Squadron acquired their first PR Mosquito II's at the instigation of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery whilst they were serving in North Africa.. In May 1943, the squadron was sent to USAAF San Severo in Italy This move was to prepare for the southern European campaign; the squadron was equipped with Mosquito PR XVI's, with red and white rudder stripes. They carried out large-scale photographic surveys of parts of Sicily and other Axis held areas, eventually ranging over the Alps and deep into Austria and Germany, where they met with dangerous interceptions by Me 262 jets. On 4 April 1944 the Squadron obtained the first photographic evidence of Nazi genocides when an aircraft accidentally photographed Auschwitz concentration camp, intending to photograph nearby rubber plantations. When analysed, the photographs showed rows of people lined up, plus chimneys and all the other characteristics of a death camp. With the cessation of hostilities, 60 Squadron assisted the RAF in a photo survey of Greece before being withdrawn from operations on 22 August 1945 after it had returned to AFS Zwartkop, South Africa. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23908469 | 1,116,018 |
1,731,567 | Beyond vertebrates NAEs are also found to have signaling roles in more primitive organism, implicated as metabolic signals that coordinate nutrient status and lifespan determination in "Caenorhabditis elegans", and detected in organisms as diverse as yeast ("Saccharomyces cerevisiae"), freshwater fish ("Esox lucius" and "Cyprinus carpio"), bivalve mollusc ("Mytilus galloprovincialis"), protists ("Tetrahymena thermophila"), slime mold ("Dictyostelium discoideum"), microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses, are all organisms that appear to regulate their endogenous NAE levels via similar enzymatic machinery as mammalian vertebrates, show a widespread occurrence of NAEs, from single-celled organisms to humans, and a highly conserved role for this group of lipids in cell signaling. Studies in amphibians and birds show that endocannabinoid signaling may function as a behavioral switch, allowing redirection from less- to more-essential behaviors in response to emergent environmental changes, and provide evidence of cannabinoid modulation of aggression, emesis, feeding behavior, locomotor activity, reproductive behaviors, vocal learning, sensory perception and stress responses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20853174 | 1,730,591 |
370,480 | In September 2021 after 12 flights, the mission was extended indefinitely. In March 2022 after 21 flights, NASA said it would continue flying "Ingenuity" until at least the coming September. The area of the helicopter's next goal is more rugged than the relatively flat terrain it flew over in its first year of operation. The ancient fan-shaped river delta has jagged cliffs, angled surfaces and projecting boulders. "Ingenuity" will help the mission team decide which route "Perseverance" should take to the top of the delta and may aid in analyzing potential science targets. Software updates will eliminate the helicopter's 50-foot altitude limit, allow it to change speed in flight, and improve its understanding of terrain texture below it. NASA associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen said less than a year earlier "we didn’t even know if powered, controlled flight of an aircraft at Mars was possible." He said the transformation in understanding what the aircraft can do is "one of the most historic in the annals of air and space exploration." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56300556 | 370,286 |
1,044,386 | Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne, Switzerland on 5 September 1997. The Greek capital had lost its bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics to the American city of Atlanta nearly seven years before, during the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo, Japan on 18 September 1990. Under the direction of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Athens pursued another bid, this time for the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004. The success of Athens in securing the 2004 Games was based largely on the bid's appeal to human values,the history of the Games from the ancient to modern periods and the emphasis that Athens is placed at the pivotal role that Greece and Athens could play in promoting the Modern Olympism and the Olympic Movement. Unlike the 1996 bid committew that was seen arrogant when the city was bidding,the 2004 bid was lauded for its low scale,humility,honest and earnestness, its focused message, and a more real e a detailed bid concept. Unlike,nine years before where concerns and criticisms are raised during the unsuccessful 1996 bid – primarily when was talked in critical subjects about the city's infrastructural readiness, its air pollution, its budget and politicization of the Games events and their preparations. Along a successful organization of another events as the 1991 Mediterranean Games,the 1994 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship,1994 World Fencing Championships and the sucesfull 1997 World Championships in Athletics,one month before the Olympic host city election was crucial in allaying lingering fears and concerns among the sporting community and some IOC members about the greek ability to host international sporting events. Another factor that contributed to the Greek capital's selection was a growing sentiment among some IOC members to restore some original values of the Olympics to the Modern Games, a component which they felt was lost during the 1996 Summer Olympics. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=346300 | 1,043,842 |
417,917 | Oliphant met Groves and Oppenheimer in Washington, D.C., on 18 September 1943, and they attempted to persuade him to join the Los Alamos Laboratory, but Oliphant felt that he would be of more use assisting Lawrence on the electromagnetic project. Accordingly, the Technical Subcommittee directed that Oliphant and six assistants would go to Berkeley, and later move on to Los Alamos. Oliphant found that he and Lawrence had quite different designs, and that the American one was frozen, but Lawrence, who had expressed a desire for Oliphant to join him on the electromagnetic project as early as 1942, was eager for Oliphant's assistance. Oliphant secured the services of a fellow Australian physicist, Harrie Massey, who had been working for the Admiralty on magnetic mines, along with James Stayers and Stanley Duke, who had worked with him on the cavity magnetron. This initial group set out for Berkeley in a B-24 Liberator bomber in November 1943. Oliphant found that Berkeley had shortages of key skills, particularly physicists, chemists and engineers. He prevailed on Sir David Rivett, the head of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Australia, to release Eric Burhop to work on the project. His requests for personnel were met, and the British mission at Berkeley grew in number to 35, two of whom, Robin Williams and George Page, were New Zealanders. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41957579 | 417,713 |
1,695,161 | The HYSPLIT model is extensively used by United States Land Management Agencies to forecast potential human health impacts from wildland fire smoke. Smoke from wildland fires can directly impact both the public and wildfire personnel health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service AirFire Research Team uses HYSPLIT as a component of its BlueSky modeling framework to calculate the likely trajectories of smoke parcels given off by a fire. When combined with various other independent models of fire information, fuel loading, fire consumption, fire emissions, and meteorology within the BlueSky framework, the user can calculate the downwind concentrations of several pollutants emitted by a fire, such as Carbon Dioxide or Particulate Matter. This information is useful for land management and air regulatory agencies to understand the impacts from both planned and unplanned wildland fires and the smoke-related consequences across a spectrum of wildfire management tactics and mitigation strategies. In emergency response situations, incident management teams can deploy technical specialist Air Resource Advisors to assist with predicting and communicating smoke impacts to a wide variety of stakeholders, including incident teams, air quality regulators, and the public. Air Resource Advisors are specially trained to interpret BlueSky forecasts to provide timely smoke impact and forecast information to address public health risks and concerns. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44329487 | 1,694,210 |
1,436,539 | During the age of New Imperialism in the late 19th century European explorers and scientists traveled across the globe bringing descriptions of landscapes and landforms. As geographical knowledge increased over time these observations were systematized in a search for regional patterns. Climate emerged thus as prime factor for explaining landform distribution at a grand scale. The rise of climatic geomorphology was foreshadowed by the work of Wladimir Köppen, Vasily Dokuchaev and Andreas Schimper. William Morris Davis, the leading geomorphologist of his time, recognized the role of climate by complementing his "normal" temperate climate cycle of erosion with arid and glacial ones. Nevertheless, interest in climatic geomorphology was also a reaction "against" Davisian geomorphology that was by the mid-20th century considered both un-innovative and dubious. Early climatic geomorphology developed primarily in continental Europe, chiefly France and Germany. The discipline emerged in the 1940s with works of Carl Troll, Emmanuel de Martonne, Pierre Birot and Julius Büdel. The foundation of climatic geomorphology in Germany lies according to Hanna Bremer in Albrecht Penck, Siegfried Passarge and Alfred Hettner's preference of field observations over theory. Likely it was Büdel, a student of Brückner and Penck, who coined the term "climatic geomorphology". In the English-speaking world the tendency was not explicit until L.C. Peltier's 1950 publication on a periglacial cycle of erosion. This was however an isolated work whose theme was not followed up by other English-language authors. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54278600 | 1,435,730 |
285,541 | At the professional level, sprinters begin the race by assuming a crouching position in the starting blocks before driving forward and gradually moving into an upright position as the race progresses and momentum is gained. The set position differs depending on the start. The use of starting blocks allows the sprinter to perform an enhanced isometric preload; this generates muscular pre-tension which is channeled into the subsequent forward drive, making it more powerful. Body alignment is of key importance in producing the optimal amount of force. Ideally, the athlete should begin in a 4-point stance and drive forwards, pushing off using both legs for maximum force production. Athletes remain in the same lane on the running track throughout all sprinting events, with the sole exception of the 400 metres indoors. Races up to 100 metres are largely focused upon acceleration to an athlete's maximum speed. All sprints beyond this distance increasingly incorporate an element of endurance. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=89276 | 285,387 |
379,193 | Other antiestrogens, such as ethamoxytriphetol (MER-25) and clomifene (MRL-41), were assessed for treatment of breast cancer and found to be effective before tamoxifen, but were plagued with toxicity issues. The first clinical study of tamoxifen took place at the Christie Hospital in 1971, and showed a convincing effect in advanced breast cancer, but nevertheless ICI's development programme came close to termination when it was reviewed in 1972. In an unpublished article from the early days of the trial, Dora Richardson documented her team's excitement about tamoxifen's effects in counteracting infertility problems and the early positive effects found in breast cancer patients. Unfortunately, this work was not well received by everyone, as the team was supposed to be looking for a contraceptive pill. Tamoxifen's further development may have been bolstered by a second clinical study by Harold W.C. Ward at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. Ward's study showed a more definitive response to the drug at a higher dosage. Walpole also may have helped to convince the company to market tamoxifen for late stage breast cancer in 1973. He was also instrumental in funding V. Craig Jordan to work on tamoxifen. In 1972, ICI Pharmaceuticals Division abandoned development of tamoxifen for financial reasons. The drug was subsequently reinvented from a failed contraceptive, to become tamoxifen, the gold standard for the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer and the pioneering medicine for chemprevention for high risk women. Two books, "Estrogen Action, Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators and Women's Health" (Imperial College Press 2013) and "Tamoxifen Pioneering Medicine in Breast Cancer" (Springer 2013) tell this story. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1269557 | 378,998 |
390,145 | Between the introduction of universal conscription in 1902 until the start of World War II, the army was usually maintained at a consistent strength of 100,000 men, with two-thirds of the force being conscripts for two years. From 1942 onwards, the Swedish government embarked upon a massive and ambitious militarisation program in which conscription was strictly enforced and compulsory service was extended. The basic training for privates was set at 12 months, for future conscript sergeants intended to become platoon leaders (mainly sixth form graduates) 18 months, and for future conscript officers 24 months. These periods were gradually reduced, and the ranks were raised, until it was the same period for all conscripts shortly before conscription was suspended in 2009. This combined with propaganda about conscription being a part of social duty and defending the Swedish principle of "folkhemmet", led to an army a size of about 700,000 active duty soldiers that could be mobilised in late 1945. Since the late winter of 1945 the size of the army was slowly decreased as entire reserve battalions and brigades were gradually demobilised, and by late 1947 the size of the army was around 170,000 soldiers who could be mobilised and was planned to stabilise at such a quantity of personnel. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=316252 | 389,950 |
2,107,459 | Although every frame of the film was created using computer graphics, conventional artwork played an important role in developing the look and feel of the show. Art Director Chris Butler did extensive research to design props and sets that allow the 3D animators to create historically authentic environments. The animators visited the dome of the telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory to photograph the building before constructing it in Maya (software) as it might have appeared in 1925 when Edwin Hubble worked there. "Dixon insisted on authenticity; from the location of planets in the sky to the kind of a feather in Galileo's quill pen, everything was meticulously researched," according to Executive Producer Ann Hassett. Animators studied photographs provided by Galileo expert Dava Sobel to ensure that architectural details of the astronomer's house were modeled correctly. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11535706 | 2,106,246 |
1,483,879 | Rapid advances in technologies along with economic demands have led to a noticeable increase in the complexity of engineering systems (Vicente, 1999a). As a result, it is becoming more and more difficult for designers to anticipate events that may occur within such systems. Unanticipated events by definition cannot be specified in advance and thus cannot be prevented through training, procedures, or automation. A complex sociotechnical system designed based solely on known scenarios frequently loses the flexibility to support unforeseen events. System safety is often compromised by the operators' inability to adapt to new and unfamiliar situations (Vicente & Rasmussen, 1992). Ecological interface design attempts to provide the operators with the necessary tools and information to become active problem solvers as opposed to passive monitors, particularly during the development of unforeseen events. Interfaces designed following the EID framework aim to lessen mental workload when dealing with unfamiliar and unanticipated events, which are attributed to increased psychological pressure (Vicente, 1999b). In doing so, cognitive resources may be freed up to support efficient problem solving. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3216623 | 1,483,043 |
1,709,997 | Vampire bats are sensitive to power densities (a measure of emitted energy) greater than 50 µW/cm2 at distances between 13 and 16 cm (a power density of 1.8x10W/cm2 corresponds to 50 °C). This was first determined by quantifying the temperature at which vampire bats could not behaviorally distinguish between heat emitting and room temperature SUs. A positive linear relationship exists between the energy-threshold of heat detection and distance from stimuli. Through mathematical calculations, at a distance of 8 cm, vampire bats should be able to detect humans who emit radiation of 80 µW/cm2. Temperature threshold measurements were directly measured by stimulating nerve fibers of thermoreceptors in the nose-leaf and upper lip with a water-circulated brass thermode and recording the impulses/second at every 5 °C shift in temperature from 10 to 40 °C. These receptors have a threshold of 28 °C and a maximum temperature response to 40 °C, beyond which there was either no firing or an irregular firing pattern. This threshold is 8 °C lower compared to those of warm receptor in other species of mammals, which implies extreme sensitivity to heat. After stimulation of these receptors, there is a transient increase in impulse activity which quickly decays due to adaptation and thus strengthens temporal acuity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33977879 | 1,709,038 |
163,770 | The compact disc is an evolution of LaserDisc technology, where a focused laser beam is used that enables the high information density required for high-quality digital audio signals. Unlike the prior art by Optophonie and James Russell, the information on the disc is read from a reflective layer using a laser as a light source through a protective substrate. Prototypes were developed by Philips and Sony independently in the late 1970s. Although originally dismissed by Philips Research management as a trivial pursuit, the CD became the primary focus for Philips as the LaserDisc format struggled. In 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new digital audio disc. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the "Red Book" CD-DA standard was published in 1980. After their commercial release in 1982, compact discs and their players were extremely popular. Despite costing up to $1,000, over 400,000 CD players were sold in the United States between 1983 and 1984. By 1988, CD sales in the United States surpassed those of vinyl LPs, and by 1992 CD sales surpassed those of prerecorded music cassette tapes. The success of the compact disc has been credited to the cooperation between Philips and Sony, which together agreed upon and developed compatible hardware. The unified design of the compact disc allowed consumers to purchase any disc or player from any company, and allowed the CD to dominate the at-home music market unchallenged. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41920 | 163,685 |
1,577,908 | In 1969, students protesters from the college, in addition to students of nearby James B. Dudley High School, were involved in a four-day conflict with the Greensboro Police and the National Guard in which there was one casualty. The conflict, which lasted between May 21 through May 25, was sparked by perceived civil rights issues at the segregated high school, when a popular student council write-in presidential candidate was denied his landslide victory allegedly because school officials feared his activism in the Black Power movement. Starting on the campus of Dudley High School, the uprising spread to A&T campus, where students had stood up in support of the Dudley protest. Escalating violence eventually led to an armed confrontation and the subsequent invasion of the campus. Described at the time as "the most massive armed assault ever made against an American university," The uprising ended soon after the National Guard raided and raid of the 505-room male dormitory, W. Kerr Scott Hall, taking hundreds of students into protective custody. The one casualty as a result of the conflict, freshman Willie Ernest Grimes, was posthumously awarded the Bachelor of Science in 2008. Accepting the degree was Willie Grimes' mother, Mrs. Ella Grimes, who was accompanied by her son, N.C. A&T alumnus George Grimes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42220009 | 1,577,019 |
104,949 | The title track of "Atom Heart Mother" resulted from a number of instrumental figures the band had composed during these rehearsals, including the chord progression of the main theme, which guitarist David Gilmour had called "Theme from an Imaginary Western", and the earliest documented live performance was on 17 January 1970 at Hull University. The band felt that the live performances developed the piece into a manageable shape. Recording of the track commenced at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London, and was somewhat cumbersome, as it was the first recording to use a new eight-track one-inch tape and EMI TG12345 transistorised mixing console (8-track, 20-microphone inputs) in the studio, and, as a result, EMI insisted the band were not allowed to do any splicing of the tape to edit pieces together. Consequently, band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason had little choice but to play the bass and drums, respectively, for the entire 23-minute piece in one sitting. The other instruments the band played were overdubbed later. Mason recalled the final backing track's lack of precise timekeeping would cause problems later on. Geesin denied Mason's account and said the tapes given to him for arranging the score were a collage of short sections. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=271068 | 104,904 |
496,660 | From this increased interest in the nature of the earth and its origin, came a heightened attention to minerals and other components of the earth's crust. Moreover, the increasing economic importance of mining in Europe during the mid to late 18th century made the possession of accurate knowledge about ores and their natural distribution vital. Scholars began to study the makeup of the earth in a systematic manner, with detailed comparisons and descriptions not only of the land itself, but of the semi-precious metals it contained, which had great commercial value. For example, in 1774 Abraham Gottlob Werner published the book "Von den äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien (On the External Characters of Minerals)," which brought him widespread recognition because he presented a detailed system for identifying specific minerals based on external characteristics. The more efficiently productive land for mining could be identified and the semi-precious metals could be found, the more money could be made. This drive for economic gain propelled geology into the limelight and made it a popular subject to pursue. With an increased number of people studying it, came more detailed observations and more information about the earth. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8245348 | 496,404 |
2,107,626 | 2-AF can undergo a reaction to become a toxic carcinogen to animals. 2-AF can be acetylated to become 2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF). This compound has been a major research area for cancer-causing agents. 2-Acetylaminofluorene is able to cause tumors in mice and other animals in the liver and kidney. This substance can act as a substrate for cytochrome P450 (CYP). In this lock and key conformation, the enzyme will allow for a hydroxyl group to be added onto the 2nd carbon of the structure. Now, 2-AAF will be turned into "N"-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene which is a carcinogen. The addition of these side groups to 2-AF are very dangerous in biological systems. Industrial use has still yet to experimented with. After this reaction to form the N-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene, there can be spontaneous formations that will form. The transferase enzyme, cytosolic "N"-acetyltransferase can act on the hydroxyl group which can also be acetylated. This oxygen acetylation will create the intermediate "N"-acetyl-"N" acetoxyaminofluorene. Since biological molecules are dynamic and able to undergo several movements, the side groups of the "N"-acteyl-"N"-acetoxyaminofluorene can form the arylamidonium ion and a carbonium ion which can interact directly with DNA. Exposure to these carcinogens can increase metabolic rates, if the exposure is repeated several times. Gradually, the doses can increase and residues in urine excretion can gradually increase. This is carcinogenic and exposure should be limited. These carcinogens can affect the genome induce mutations. Furthermore, the "N"-hydroxy derivative can undergo sulfation by the enzyme cytosolic sulfur transferase, which will produce another compound, "N"-acetyl-"N"-sulfoxy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37394233 | 2,106,413 |
983,055 | Many economists pessimistic about technological unemployment accept that compensation effects did largely operate as the optimists claimed through most of the 19th and 20th century. Yet they hold that the advent of computerisation means that compensation effects have become less effective. An early example of this argument was made by Wassily Leontief in 1983. He conceded that after some disruption, the advance of mechanization during the Industrial Revolution increased the demand for labour as well as increasing pay due to effects that flow from increased productivity. While early machines lowered the demand for muscle power, they were unintelligent and needed large numbers of human operators to remain productive. Yet since the introduction of computers into the workplace, there is now less need not just for muscle power but also for human brain power. Hence even as productivity continues to rise, the lower demand for human labour may mean less pay and employment. However, this argument is not fully supported by more recent empirical studies. One research done by Erik Brynjolfsson and Lorin M. Hitt in 2003 presents direct evidence that suggests a positive short-term effect of computerization on firm-level measured productivity and output growth. In addition, they find the long-term productivity contribution of computerization and technological changes might even be greater. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32040137 | 982,542 |
981,003 | The ICPC traces its roots to a competition held at Texas A&M University in 1970 hosted by the Alpha Chapter of the Upsilon Pi Epsilon Computer Science Honor Society (UPE). This initial programming competition was titled First Annual Texas Collegiate Programming Championship and each University was represented by a team of up to five members. The computer used was a 360 model 65 which was one of the first machines with a DAT (Dynamic Address Translator aka "paging") system for accessing memory. The start of the competition was delayed for about 90 minutes because two of the four "memory bank" amplifiers were down. Teams that participated included, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, University of Houston, and five or six other Texas University / Colleges. There were three problems that had to be completed and the cumulative time from "start" to "successful completion" determined first-, second-, and third-place winners. The programming language used was Fortran. The programs were written on coding sheets, keypunched on Hollerith cards, and submitted for execution. The University of Houston team won the competition completing all three problems successfully with time. The second- and third-place teams did not successfully complete all three problems. The contest evolved into its present form as a multi-tier competition in 1977, with the first finals held in conjunction with the ACM Computer Science Conference. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=520121 | 980,491 |
1,313,347 | A 2013 Cochrane review estimated that mammography in women between 50 and 75 years old results in a relative decreased risk of death from breast cancer of 15% and an absolute risk reduction of 0.05%. However, when the analysis included only the least biased trials, women who had regular screening mammograms were just as likely to die from all causes, and just as likely to die specifically from breast cancer, as women who did not. The size of effect might be less in real life compared with the results in randomized controlled trials due to factors such as increased self-selection rate among women concerned and increased effectiveness of adjuvant therapies. The Nordic Cochrane Collection (2012) reviews said that advances in diagnosis and treatment might make mammography screening less effective at saving lives today. They concluded that screening is "no longer effective" at preventing deaths and "it therefore no longer seems reasonable to attend" for breast cancer screening at any age, and warn of misleading information on the internet. The review also concluded that "half or more" of cancers detected with mammography would have disappeared spontaneously without treatment. They found that most of the earliest cell changes found by mammography screening ("carcinoma in situ") should be left alone because these changes would not have progressed into invasive cancer. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13705072 | 1,312,627 |
199,984 | A precursor of the engine was designed by the German scientist Otto von Guericke who, in 1650, designed and built the world's first vacuum pump to create a vacuum as demonstrated in the Magdeburg hemispheres experiment. He was driven to make a vacuum to disprove Aristotle's long-held supposition that 'Nature abhors a vacuum'. Shortly thereafter, Irish physicist and chemist Boyle had learned of Guericke's designs and in 1656, in coordination with English scientist Robert Hooke, built an air pump. Using this pump, Boyle and Hooke noticed the pressure-volume correlation for a gas: "PV" = "k", where "P" is pressure, "V" is volume and "k" is a constant: this relationship is known as Boyle's Law. In that time, air was assumed to be a system of motionless particles, and not interpreted as a system of moving molecules. The concept of thermal motion came two centuries later. Therefore, Boyle's publication in 1660 speaks about a mechanical concept: the air spring. Later, after the invention of the thermometer, the property temperature could be quantified. This tool gave Gay-Lussac the opportunity to derive his law, which led shortly later to the ideal gas law. But, already before the establishment of the ideal gas law, an associate of Boyle's named Denis Papin built in 1679 a bone digester, which is a closed vessel with a tightly fitting lid that confines steam until a high pressure is generated. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13758 | 199,881 |
756,033 | PON1 can inactivate some OPs through hydrolysis. PON1 hydrolyzes the active metabolites in several OP insecticides such as chlorpyrifos oxon, and diazoxon, as well as, nerve agents such as soman, sarin, and VX. PON1 hydrolyzes the metabolites, not the parent compounds of insectides. The presence of PON1 polymorphisms causes there to be different enzyme levels and catalytic efficiency of this esterase, which in turn suggests that different individuals may be more susceptible to the toxic effect of OP exposure. Higher levels of PON1 plasma hydrolytic activity provide a greater degree of protection against OP pesticides. Rats injected with purified PON1 from rabbit serum were more resistant to acute cholinergic activity than the control rats. PON1 knockouts in mice are found to be more sensitive to the toxicity of pesticides, like chlorpyrifos. Animal experiments indicate that while PON1 plays a significant role in regulating the toxicity of OPs its degree of protection given depends on the compound (i.e. Chlorpyrifos oxon or diazoxon). The catalytic efficiency with which PON1 can degrade toxic OPs determines the degree of protection that PON1 can provide for organism. The higher the concentration of PON1 the better the protection provided. PON1 activity is much lower in neonates, so neonates are more sensitive to OP exposure. In 2006, reports up to a 13-fold variation was seen in PON1 levels in adults, as well as, specifically regarding sensitivity to diazoxon, a variation up to 26 and 14-fold was reported in a group of newborns and Latino mothers. This wide range in variability of enzyme levels determining a human's sensitivity to various OPs is being researched further. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12523440 | 755,630 |
799,363 | A 2018 study conducted by scholars from Tel-Aviv University, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Harvard University had discovered that 22 out of the 600 people who were buried in Peki'in cave from the Chalcolithic Period were of both local Levantine and Persian and Zagros area ancestries, or as phrased in the paper itself: "Ancient DNA from Chalcolithic Israel reveals the role of population mixture in cultural transformation," the scientists concluded that the homogeneous community found in the cave could source ~57% of its ancestry from groups related to those of the local Levant Neolithic, ~26% from groups related to those of the Anatolian Neolithic, and ~17% from groups related to those of the Iran Chalcolithic. The scholars noted that the Zagros genetic material held "Certain characteristics, such as genetic mutations contributing to blue eye color, were not seen in the DNA test results of earlier Levantine human remains"...The blue-eyed, fair-skinned community didn’t continue, but at least now researchers have an idea why. "These findings suggest that the rise and fall of the Chalcolithic culture are probably due to demographic changes in the region". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16696142 | 798,938 |
614,531 | A 2018 study conducted by scholars from Tel-Aviv University, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Harvard University had discovered that 22 out of the 600 people who were buried in Peki'in cave from the Chalcolithic Period were of both local Levantine and Persian and Zagros area ancestries, or as phrased in the paper itself: "Ancient DNA from Chalcolithic Israel reveals the role of population mixture in cultural transformation,” the scientists concluded that the homogeneous community found in the cave could source ~57% of its ancestry from groups related to those of the local Levant Neolithic, ~26% from groups related to those of the Anatolian Neolithic, and ~17% from groups related to those of the Iran Chalcolithic.". The scholars noted that the Zagros genetic material held "Certain characteristics, such as genetic mutations contributing to blue eye color, were not seen in the DNA test results of earlier Levantine human remains MTDNA blue-eyed, fair-skinned community didn't continue, but at least now researchers have an idea why. "These findings suggest that the rise and fall of the Chalcolithic culture are probably due to demographic changes in the region". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9238638 | 614,217 |
407,383 | The Lubbock campus is home to the main academic university, law school, and medical school (Health Sciences Center). It is one of two institutions (the other being UT Austin) in Texas to have a graduate school, law school, and medical school on its main campus. The campus, which boasts Spanish Renaissance architecture, was described by American author James A. Michener as the "most beautiful west of the Mississippi until you get to Stanford" and by Stewart Mandel of "Sports Illustrated" as "easily one of the ten most beautiful campuses" he had seen. Many buildings on campus borrow architectural elements from those found at University de Alcalá in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and Mission San José in San Antonio. A large section of the campus built between 1924 and 1951 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Texas Technological College Historic District. This area is roughly bounded by 6th Street on the north, University Avenue on the east, 19th Street on the south, and Flint Street on the west. In 2008, the Professional Grounds Management Society awarded Texas Tech the Grand Award for excellence in grounds-keeping, and merit awards in 2007, 2010, and 2014. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=272980 | 407,182 |
86,733 | The Army Research Laboratory extended funding for the Arizona State University Flexible Display Center (FDC) in 2009 with a $50 million grant. The university has partnered with the Pentagon on such endeavors since 2004 with an initial $43.7 million grant. In 2012, researchers at the center created the world's largest flexible full-color organic light-emitting diode (OLED), which at the time was 7.4 inches. The following year, the FEDC staff broke their own world record, producing a 14.7-inch version of the display. The technology delivers high-performance while remaining cost-effective during the manufacturing process. Vibrant colors, high switching speeds for video and reduced power consumption are some of the features the center has integrated into the technology. In 2012, ASU eliminated the need for specialized equipment and processing, thereby reducing costs compared to competitive approaches. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1859 | 86,698 |
1,025,234 | John M. Callow, of General Engineering of Salt Lake City, had followed flotation from technical papers and the introduction in both the Butte and Superior Mill, and at Inspiration Copper in Arizona and determined that mechanical agitation was a drawback to the existing technology. Introducing a porous brick with compressed air, and a mechanical stirring mechanism, Callow applied for a patent in 1914 (some say that Callow, a Jackling partisan, invented his cell as a means to avoid paying royalties to Minerals Separation, which firms using his cell eventually were forced to do by the courts). This method, known as Pneumatic Flotation, was recognized as an alternative to the Minerals Separation process of flotation concentration. The American Institute of Mining Engineers presented Callow the James Douglas Gold Medal in 1926 for his contributions to the field of flotation. By that time, flotation technology was changing, especially with the discovery of the use of xanthates and other reagents, which made the Callow cell and his process obsolete. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1567681 | 1,024,701 |
1,001,126 | In higher plants thylakoids are organized into a granum-stroma membrane assembly. A granum (plural grana) is a stack of thylakoid discs. Chloroplasts can have from 10 to 100 grana. Grana are connected by stroma thylakoids, also called intergranal thylakoids or lamellae. Grana thylakoids and stroma thylakoids can be distinguished by their different protein composition. Grana contribute to chloroplasts' large surface area to volume ratio. A recent electron tomography study of the thylakoid membranes has shown that the stroma lamellae are organized in wide sheets perpendicular to the grana stack axis and form multiple right-handed helical surfaces at the granal interface. Left-handed helical surfaces consolidate between the right-handed helices and sheets. This complex network of alternating helical membrane surfaces of different radii and pitch was shown to minimize the surface and bending energies of the membranes. This new model, the most extensive one generated to date, revealed that features from two, seemingly contradictory, older models coexist in the structure. Notably, similar arrangements of helical elements of alternating handedness, often referred to as “parking garage” structures, were proposed to be present in the endoplasmic reticulum and in ultradense nuclear matter. This structural organization may constitute a fundamental geometry for connecting between densely packed layers or sheets. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=209455 | 1,000,608 |
1,266,623 | Lichens as a group have received less attention in classical treatises on botany than other groups although the relationship between humans and some species has been documented from early times. Several species have appeared in the works of Dioscorides, Pliny the Elder and Theophrastus although the studies are not very deep. During the first centuries of the modern age they were usually put forward as examples of spontaneous generation and their reproductive mechanisms were totally ignored. For centuries naturalists had included lichens in diverse groups until in the early 18th century a French researcher Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in his "Institutiones Rei Herbariae" grouped them into their own genus. He adopted the Latin term lichen, which had already been used by Pliny who had imported it from Theophrastus but up until then this term had not been widely employed. The original meaning of the Greek word λειχήν (leichen) was moss that in its turn derives from the Greek verb λείχω (liekho) to suck because of the great ability of these organisms to absorb water. In its original use the term signified mosses, liverworts as well as lichens. Some forty years later Dillenius in his "Historia Muscorum" made the first division of the group created by Tournefort separating the sub-families Usnea, Coralloides and Lichens in response to the morphological characteristics of the lichen thallus. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=172384 | 1,265,934 |
928,651 | Of some fifty-six songs on which Webern worked during and after World War I (1914–1926), he ultimately finished and later published only thirty-two, carefully ordered into sets as Opp. 12–19. "How much I owe to your "Pierrot"", he wrote Schoenberg upon completing a setting of Georg Trakl's "Abendland III", Op. 14, No. 4, in which, distinctly, there is no silence or rest until a pause at the concluding gesture. A recurring theme is that of the wanderer, estranged or lost and seeking return to or at least retrieval from an earlier time and place. This wartime theme of wandering in search of home or rest fits with two complex, interrelated concerns more broadly evident in Webern's work: first, the loss and memory of his mother, father, and nephew, usually from a religious perspective; and second, Webern's broad and spiritual, even pantheistic sense of "Heimat" in the form of abstracted and idealized rural landscapes, such as that of the lost Preglhof esate or the Alps. In a stage play he wrote in October 1913, "Tot", Webern drew on Emanuel Swedenborg's notion of correspondence to explore these concerns over the course of six alpine scenes of reflection and self-consolation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=65676 | 928,162 |
539,671 | Plasmonics typically utilizes so-called surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), that are coherent electron oscillations travelling together with an electromagnetic wave along the interface between a dielectric (e.g. glass, air) and a metal (e.g. silver, gold). The SPP modes are strongly confined to their supporting interface, giving rise to strong light-matter interactions. In particular, the electron gas in the metal oscillates with the electro-magnetic wave. Because the moving electrons are scattered, ohmic losses in plasmonic signals are generally large, which limits the signal transfer distances to the sub-centimeter range, unless hybrid optoplasmonic light guiding networks, or plasmon gain amplification are used. Besides SPPs, localized surface plasmon modes supported by metal nanoparticles are referred to as plasmonics modes. Both modes are characterized by large momentum values, which enable strong resonant enhancement of the local density of photon states, and can be utilized to enhance weak optical effects of opto-electronic devices. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44522280 | 539,391 |
1,244,443 | The upstream 2.5 kilobases of the perlecan promoter region were studied by CAT activation in cell lines of various histological origins. This study concluded that there existed a TGF-β responsive element in the promoter just 285 base pairs upstream of the transcriptional start site. This result has been corroborated in such tissues as human colon carcinoma cells. and murine uterine epithelium by in vitro addition of the cytokine to cell culture medium. In vitro studies of TGF-β1 signaling and its effects on perlecan expression can have varying results in different cell types. In human coronary smooth muscle cells in culture, TGF-β1 signaling showed no effect on perlecan expression although it did upregulate other matrix constituents. In vivo demonstration of the dynamic regulation of perlecan and its control by extracellular signaling pathways is critical to our understanding of the protein's role in development. To this end, a transgenic mouse line was created expressing porcine TGF-β1 under the lens-specific αA-crystallin promoter and then another similar line was created but with the gene driven by the βb-crystallin promoter, corresponding to another lens-specific gene. This developmentally dynamic tissue showed a serious misregulation of extracellular matrix components including perlecan with TGF-β1 over expression. Corneal opacification occurred in both transgenic lines early in development due to greatly increased expression of perlecan, fibronectin and thrombospondin-1 in the corneal mesenchyme. The effect was more pronounced in the βB-1 Crystallin promoter-driven line. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4328716 | 1,243,770 |
389,636 | Many centuries ago the doctors propagated the viability of a complex approach in the diagnosis of disease and the treatment of the patient, however, modern medicine, which boasts a wide range of diagnostic methods and a variety of therapeutic procedures, stresses specification. This brought up a question: How to wholly evaluate the state of a patient who has a number of diseases simultaneously, where to start from and which disease(s) require(s) primary and subsequent treatment? For many years this question stood out unanswered, until 1970, when a renowned American doctor epidemiologist and researcher, A.R. Feinstein, who had greatly influenced the methods of clinical diagnosis and particularly methods used in the field of clinical epidemiology, came out with the term of "comorbidity". The appearance of comorbidity was demonstrated by Feinstein using the example of patients physically affected by rheumatic fever, discovering the worst state of the patients, who simultaneously had multiple diseases. In due course of time after its discovery, comorbidity was distinguished as a separate scientific-research discipline in many branches of medicine. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=217631 | 389,441 |
521,645 | The idea of a land bridge is even more supported by the multiple co-occurrence of hadrosaurid and therizinosaurid footprints at the lower Cantwell Formation of the Denali National Park, which reflects an important faunal exchange between landmasses. These tracks show the dominant presence of hadrosaurids and a reduced concentration of therizinosaurids in the same location at potentially the same time. As indicated by the discovery of a waterlily-like impression representing a single fossil leaf from the same site, the trackway was made by the dinosaurs as they crossed a shallow body of water away from the main river channels, which is curious given that during the Late Cretaceous this part of North America was a semi-arid habitat. This occurrence at this single locality within the lower Cantwell Formation has not been documented elsewhere in North America and these trackways represent the first reported encounter between notoriously different dinosaurs from North America. The diversity of the ichnotaxa in this site supports the idea of similar dinosaur faunas between Alaska and Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, specifically with the Nemegt Formation which had relatively wet environments. Fiorillo and colleagues suggested that Alaska represented a "gateway" for faunal exchange between the two continental landmasses and the existence of a "Cretaceous" Beringian land bridge further allowed this mixing of faunas, which was encouraged as similar habitats were present within Asia and North America. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3812410 | 521,373 |
1,821,086 | Trained with B-17s before moving to England, August–October 1942. Entered combat in November 1942, bombing such targets as submarine pens, airdromes, factories, communication targets, shipbuilding yards, harbors, and dock facilities until mid-1943. When Eighth Air Force heavy bombers first penetrated Germany on 27 January 1943, the group attacked the navy yard at Wilhelmshaven. Earned a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for bombing marshalling yards at Hamm on 4 March 1943, despite adverse weather and heavy opposition. From the middle of 1943 until the war ended, attacked aircraft factories, airfields, oil facilities, chemical industries and ball-bearing factories. Earned a second DUC for attacking vital aircraft factories in central Germany on 11 January 1944 despite inadequate fighter cover, heavy enemy opposition, and bad weather. In June 1944, contributed to the Allied invasion of Normandy by bombing gun emplacements and troop concentrations near the beachhead area. Supported the St. Lo breakthrough by attacking enemy troop positions, 24–25 July 1944. In December 1944 – January 1945, participated in the Battle of the Bulge by attacking enemy communication targets. The group supported the Allied crossing of the Rhine River in the spring of 1945 by striking airfields, bridges, and railroads near the front lines. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25877979 | 1,820,048 |
1,280,693 | Weidenreich studied at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Universität in Strasbourg where he earned a medical degree in 1899. From 1921 to 1924 he served as a Professor of anthropology at the University of Heidelberg and was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago in 1934. In 1935 he succeeded Canadian paleoanthropologist Davidson Black as honorary director of the Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Geological Survey of China. Weidenreich was among the scientists to claim that Piltdown Man was a "chimera", a composite between two unrelated species, long before fluoride analyses proved that Piltdown Man was a hoax. Weidenreich also renamed "Gigantopithecus blacki" to "Giganthropus blacki", based on a theory that primitive forms of man were much larger than the more recent ones. However, as this theory is contradictory to the Cope-Depéret rule (which states that in straight evolution lines of non-flying animals the size of species increases, not the other way round), it was rejected by Professor Dr. von Koenigswald when he returned from the Japanese concentration camp after the Second World War. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2666360 | 1,279,998 |
462,261 | The reentry module (: спускаемый аппарат (СА), "Spuskaemiy apparat (SA)") is used for launch and the journey back to Earth. It is covered by a heat-resistant covering to protect it during re-entry. It is slowed initially by the atmosphere, then by a braking parachute, followed by the main parachute which slows the craft for landing. At one meter above the ground, solid-fuel braking engines mounted behind the heat shield are fired to give a soft landing. One of the design requirements for the reentry module was for it to have the highest possible volumetric efficiency (internal volume divided by hull area). The best shape for this is a sphere, but such a shape can provide no lift, which results in a purely ballistic reentry. Ballistic reentries are hard on the occupants due to high deceleration and can't be steered beyond their initial deorbit burn. That is why it was decided to go with the "headlight" shape that the Soyuz uses — a hemispherical forward area joined by a barely angled conical section (seven degrees) to a classic spherical section heat shield. This shape allows a small amount of lift to be generated due to the unequal weight distribution. The nickname was coined at a time when nearly every automobile headlight was a circular paraboloid. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43817287 | 462,032 |
1,062,517 | Batygin's research is primarily aimed at understanding the formation and evolution of planetary systems. In 2010, he and David J. Stevenson published a calculation, which showed that hot Jupiters can become inflated as a consequence of Ohmic dissipation of electrical currents induced through an interaction between ionized atmospheric winds and the planetary magnetic field. In 2012, Batygin demonstrated that misalignments between stellar spin-axes and planetary orbits can arise from gravitational perturbations exerted onto protoplanetary disks by primordial companions stars. In 2015, Batygin and Laughlin hypothesized that the Solar System once possessed a population of short-period planets that were destroyed by Jupiter's migration through the solar nebula. In January 2016, Batygin and Michael E. Brown proposed the existence of a ninth planet in the Solar System. In 2018, Batygin showed that the evolution of astrophysical disks can be modeled with the Schrödinger equation, a fundamental equation in quantum mechanics. He has appeared as himself in multiple television documentaries including the NOVA 2019 miniseries The Planets. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49177410 | 1,061,963 |
523,785 | Soldered joints can fail in many ways like electromigration and formation of brittle intermetallic layers. Some failures show only at extreme joint temperatures, hindering troubleshooting. Thermal expansion mismatch between the printed circuit board material and its packaging strains the part-to-board bonds; while leaded parts can absorb the strain by bending, leadless parts rely on the solder to absorb stresses. Thermal cycling may lead to fatigue cracking of the solder joints, especially with elastic solders; various approaches are used to mitigate such incidents. Loose particles, like bonding wire and weld flash, can form in the device cavity and migrate inside the packaging, causing often intermittent and shock-sensitive shorts. Corrosion may cause buildup of oxides and other nonconductive products on the contact surfaces. When closed, these then show unacceptably high resistance; they may also migrate and cause shorts. Tin whiskers can form on tin-coated metals like the internal side of the packagings; loose whiskers then can cause intermittent short circuits inside the packaging. Cables, in addition to the methods described above, may fail by fraying and fire damage. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26626178 | 523,513 |
1,281,068 | Pigmentation is one method employed by a variety of plants as a form of photoprotection. For example, in Antarctica, native mosses of green color can be found naturally shaded by rocks or other physical barriers while red colored mosses of the same species are likely to be found in wind and sun exposed locations. This variation in color is due to light intensity. Photoreceptors in mosses, phytochromes (red wavelengths) and phototropins (blue wavelengths), assist in the regulation of pigmentation. To better understand this phenomenon, Waterman et al. conducted an experiment to analyze the photoprotective qualities of UVACs (Ultraviolet Absorbing Compounds) and red pigmentation in antarctic mosses. Moss specimens of species "Ceratodon purpureus, Bryum pseudotriquetrum" and "Schistidium antarctici" were collected from an island region in East Antarctica. All specimens were then grown and observed in a lab setting under constant light and water conditions to assess photosynthesis, UVAC and pigmentation production. Moss gametophytes of red and green varieties were exposed to light and consistent watering for a period of two weeks. Following the growth observation, cell wall pigments were extracted from the moss specimens. These extracts were tested using UV–Vis spectrophotometry which uses light from the UV and visible spectrum to create an image depicting light absorbance. UVACs are typically found in the cytoplasm of the cell; however, when exposed to high-intensity light, UVACs are transported into the cell wall. It was found that mosses with higher concentrations of red pigments and UVACs located in the cell walls, rather than intracellularly, performed better in higher intensity light. Color change in the mosses was found not to be due to chloroplast movement within the cell. It was found that UVACs and red pigments function as long-term photoprotection in Antarctic mosses. Therefore, in response to high-intensity light stress, the production of UVACs and red pigmentation is up-regulated. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4970131 | 1,280,372 |
2,078,794 | Laird came out of retirement during World War II to research radar at University of Western Ontario for the Canadian National Research Council. Her retirement home was in London, Ontario and she turned up at the research centre in 1940, asking to help. She worked there without pay but took a full part in the research, including the experiments in the unheated antenna building. Laird presented several top secret reports on her findings to the National Research Council, taught army and navy personnel, and took her turn monitoring the unheated observation station on the university's campus. In 1945, she was made an honorary professor of physics there and continued working upon the absorption of ultra-high frequency radiation by tissue. Her research studying the effects of microwave radiation on biological materials was supported by the Ontario Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation. By the time she retired for the second time in 1953, she was not only one of Canada's most distinguished physicists, but also the oldest. Physicist A.D. Misener said that Laird was "the rare combination of a conscientious and productive research worker and an inspiring and able teacher." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40802662 | 2,077,595 |
1,997,092 | Phytotechnology is the application of plants to engineering and science problems. Phytotechnology uses ecosystem services to provide for a specifically engineered solution to a problem. Ecosystem services, broadly defined fall into four broad categories: provisioning (i.e. production of food and water), regulating (i.e. the control of climate and disease) supporting (i.e. nutrient cycles and crop pollination), and cultural (i.e. spiritual and recreational benefits). Many times only one of these ecosystem services is maximized in the design of the space. For instance a constructed wetland may attempt to maximize the cooling properties of the system to treat water from a wastewater treatment facility before introduction to a river. The designed benefit is a reduction of water temperature for the river system while the constructed wetland itself provides habitat and food for wildlife as well as walking trails for recreation. Most phytotechnology has been focused on the abilities of plants to remove pollutants from the environment. Other technologies such as green roofs, green walls and bioswales are generally considered phytotechnology. Taking a broad view: even parks and landscaping could be viewed as phytotechnology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33533216 | 1,995,949 |
1,878,396 | Some general symptoms that are produced on infected plants include poor growth, fruit spot, and chlorotic foliage. These secondary symptoms are often due to plant root stress. These make it rather difficult to diagnose nematode diseases in general. The roots when infected produce necrotic lesions, which are darkened areas of dead tissue, on the surface and throughout the cortex of the infected roots. These lesions turn the root to reddish-brown to black and are initially spotty. As the nematode continues to feed, the lesions can coalesce to become large necrotic areas of tissue that may eventually girdle the root. The population size of the nematode affects the degree of symptoms. Low to moderate populations may cause no visible above ground symptoms, while high populations can lead to stunting, nutrient and water deficiencies, and eventual die-back of the plant. On potato, infection of root lesion nematode can cause a secondary invasion by "Verticillium dahliae" leading to Potato Early Dying. Onions are another important host of "P. penetrans". Onions are an important vegetable for consumption in the United States and upon infection the nematodes can limit yield and quality of the bulbs. Populations of more than 0.01 nematode per cubic centimeter of soil resulted in injury to onions. There is a negative relationship between the increasing inoculum levels on onion root and top fresh weight at harvest. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11874473 | 1,877,316 |
776,841 | This eight-story, steel-frame building, boasting one of the finest examples of a terra-cotta clad façade, was commissioned by Mary Ludington Barnes for the American Book Company (1890), which was owned by her husband, Charles Barnes. At the time, Chicago was a national center for the publishing industry, as demonstrated by this building and many others, particularly those on Chicago's Printers Row, and including the former Lakeside Press Building owned by Columbia College. The American Book Company built the building to house its offices, printing presses, packaging and shipping operations. Its frame was built to withstand the weight and vibrations of the presses, which were originally located on the fourth through sixth floors, and to accommodate the anticipated eight-story addition that was never built. Its status as a manufacturing facility determined its form as a loft building, with a practical and efficient interior that had few elegant original elements. Its location, between the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Grand Central Station at Harrison and Wells Streets and the Illinois Central Railroad's Central Station at Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road, made it ideal for the distribution of the company's products. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1914203 | 776,425 |
1,730,697 | Experimentally, it is observed that though the magnitude of the magnetization is uniform throughout a homogeneous specimen at uniform temperature, the direction of the magnetization is in general not uniform, but varies from one region to another, on a scale corresponding to visual observations with a microscope. Uniform of direction is attained only by applying a field, or by choosing as a specimen, a body which is itself of microscopic dimensions (a "fine particle"). The size range for which a ferromagnet become single-domain is generally quite narrow and a first quantitative result in this direction is due to William Fuller Brown, Jr. who, in his fundamental paper, rigorously proved (in the framework of Micromagnetics), though in the special case of a homogeneous sphere of radius formula_4, what nowadays is known as "Brown’s fundamental theorem of the theory of fine ferromagnetic particles". This theorem states the existence of a critical radius formula_5 such that the state of lowest free energy is one of uniform magnetization if formula_6 (i.e. the existence of a critical size under which spherical ferromagnetic particles stay uniformly magnetized in zero applied field). A lower bound for formula_5 can then be computed. In 1988, Amikam A. Aharoni, by using the same mathematical reasoning as Brown, was able to extend the Fundamental Theorem to the case of a prolate spheroid. Recently, Brown’s fundamental theorem on fine ferromagnetic particles has been rigorously extended to the case of a general ellipsoid, and an estimate for the critical diameter (under which the ellipsoidal particle become single domain) has been given in terms of the demagnetizing factors of the general ellipsoid. Eventually, the same result has been shown to be true for metastable equilibria in small ellipsoidal particles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28835992 | 1,729,722 |
615,086 | Science denialism has rapidly increased in recent years. A major factor is the rapid spread of misinformation and fake news via social media (such as Facebook), as well as prominent placing of such misinformation in Google searches. Climate change denialism is a particular problem in that its global nature and lengthy timeframe is uniquely difficult for the individual mind to grasp, as the human brain has evolved to deal with short-term and immediate dangers. However, John Cook and colleagues have shown that inoculation theory shows promise in countering denialism. This involves a two-step process. Firstly, list and deconstruct the 50 or so most common myths about climate change, by identifying the reasoning errors and logical fallacies of each one. Secondly, use the concept of parallel argumentation to explain the flaw in the argument by transplanting the same logic into a parallel situation, often an extreme or absurd one. Adding appropriate humour can be particularly effective. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18546373 | 614,772 |
193,567 | An ambitious campus expansion plan was proposed by Fr. Vernon F. Gallagher in 1952. Assumption Hall, the first student dormitory, was opened in 1954, and Rockwell Hall was dedicated in November 1958, housing the schools of business and law. It was during the tenure of Fr. Henry J. McAnulty that Fr. Gallagher's ambitious plans were put to action. Between 1959 and 1980, the university renovated or constructed various buildings to form the academic infrastructure of the campus. Among these are College Hall, the music school and the library, as well as a new Student Union and Mellon Hall, along with four more dormitories. Although Fr. McAnulty's years as president saw tremendous expansion, a financial crisis in 1970 nearly forced the closure of the university. Students rallied to the cause, however, and set a goal of raising one million dollars to "Save Duquesne University". Students engaged in door-to-door fundraising and gathered nearly $600,000, enough to keep Duquesne afloat until the end of the crisis in 1973. It was also during Fr. McAnulty's time as president that Duquesne University played an important role in the shaping of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, which has its roots in a retreat of several faculty members and students held in February 1967. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=582163 | 193,467 |
1,767,113 | The production of NO is elevated in populations living at high altitudes, which helps these people avoid hypoxia by aiding in pulmonary vasculature vasodilation. The endothelium (inner lining) of blood vessels uses NO to signal the surrounding smooth muscle to relax, thus resulting in vasodilation and increasing blood flow. NO contributes to vessel homeostasis by inhibiting vascular smooth muscle contraction and growth, platelet aggregation, and leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium. Humans with atherosclerosis, diabetes, or hypertension often show impaired NO pathways. In the context of hypertension, the vasodilatory mechanism follows: NO acts through the stimulation of the soluble guanylate cyclase, which is a heterodimeric enzyme with subsequent formation of cyclic-GMP. Cyclic-GMP activates protein kinase G, which causes reuptake of Ca and the opening of calcium-activated potassium channels. The fall in concentration of Ca ensures that the myosin light-chain kinase (MLCK) can no longer phosphorylate the myosin molecule, thereby stopping the crossbridge cycle and leading to relaxation of the smooth muscle cell. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3701628 | 1,766,119 |
598,581 | Learning a model architecture directly on a large dataset can be a lengthy process. NASNet addressed this issue by transferring a building block designed for a small dataset to a larger dataset. The design was constrained to use two types of convolutional cells to return feature maps that serve two main functions when convoluting an input feature map: "normal cells" that return maps of the same extent (height and width) and "reduction cells" in which the returned feature map height and width is reduced by a factor of two. For the reduction cell, the initial operation applied to the cell’s inputs uses a stride of two (to reduce the height and width). The learned aspect of the design included elements such as which lower layer(s) each higher layer took as input, the transformations applied at that layer and to merge multiple outputs at each layer. In the studied example, the best convolutional layer (or "cell") was designed for the CIFAR-10 dataset and then applied to the ImageNet dataset by stacking copies of this cell, each with its own parameters. The approach yielded accuracy of 82.7% top-1 and 96.2% top-5. This exceeded the best human-invented architectures at a cost of 9 billion fewer FLOPS—a reduction of 28%. The system continued to exceed the manually-designed alternative at varying computation levels. The image features learned from image classification can be transferred to other computer vision problems. E.g., for object detection, the learned cells integrated with the Faster-RCNN framework improved performance by 4.0% on the COCO dataset. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56643213 | 598,276 |
621,192 | Several Mathematicians and Historians mention that the earliest of the texts were written beginning in 800 BCE by Vedic Hindus based on compilations of an oral tradition dating back to 2000 BCE. It is possible, as proposed by Gupta, that the geometry was developed to meet the needs of ritual. Some scholars go farther: Staal hypothesizes a common ritual origin for Indian and Greek geometry, citing similar interest and approach to doubling and other geometric transformation problems. Seidenberg, followed by van der Waerden, sees a ritual origin for mathematics more broadly, postulating that the major advances, such as discovery of the Pythagorean theorem, occurred in only one place, and diffused from there to the rest of the world. Van der Waerden mentions that author of Sulbha sutras existed before 600 BCE and could not have been influenced by Greek geometry. While Boyer mentions Old Babylonian mathematics (c. 2000 BCE–1600 BCE) as a possible origin, however also states that Shulba sutras contain a formula not found in Babylon sources. KS Krishnan mentions that Shulba sutras predates Mesopotamian Pythagoras triples. Seidenberg argues that either "Old Babylonia got the theorem of Pythagoras from India or that Old Babylonia and India got it from a third source". Seidenberg suggests that this source might be Sumerian and may predate 1700 BC. In contrast, Pingree cautions that "it would be a mistake to see in [the altar builders'] works the unique origin of geometry; others in India and elsewhere, whether in response to practical or theoretical problems, may well have advanced as far without their solutions having been committed to memory or eventually transcribed in manuscripts." Plofker also raises the possibility that "existing geometric knowledge [was] consciously incorporated into ritual practice". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1884188 | 620,860 |
1,187,139 | In 1981, John L. Hennessy began the "Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages" (MIPS) project at Stanford University to investigate reduced instruction set computer (RISC) technology. The results of his research convinced him of the future commercial potential of the technology, and in 1984, he took a sabbatical to found MIPS Computer Systems. The company designed a new architecture that was also named MIPS, and introduced the first MIPS implementation, the "R2000", in 1985. The R2000 was improved, and the design was introduced as the "R3000" in 1988. These 32-bit CPUs formed the basis of their company through the 1980s, used primarily in Silicon Graphics' (SGI) series of workstations and later Digital Equipment Corporation DECstation workstations and servers. The SGI commercial designs deviated from Stanford MIPS by implementing most of the interlocks in hardware, supplying full multiply and divide instructions (among others). The designs were guided, in part, by software architect Earl Killian who designed the MIPS III 64-bit instruction-set extension, and led the work on the R4000 microarchitecture. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=53839062 | 1,186,508 |
312,518 | Whereas ancestral humans lived in small bands of related people of all ages, modern secondary school students are share the same social environment as people from the same age groups from diverse backgrounds, an evolutionary novelty. Back then, social competition during adolescence proved crucial to future social and reproductive success, hence the strong desire to be popular. Today, it is possible for people to relocate to a different place or transfer to another school. Still, the curiosity about how the lives of others for the sake of comparison remains. Teenagers are also quite conformist with regards to their peers, for under ancestral condition, social ostracism was generally deadly. In 21st-century society, youths who rebel against the dominant culture or figures of authority tend become more homogeneous with respect to their own subculture, making their behavior the opposite to any claims of counterculture. This synchronization occurs even if more than two choices are available, such as multiple styles of beard rather than whether or not to have a beard. Mathematician Jonathan Touboul who studies how information propagation through society affects human behavior calls this the hipster effect. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41162624 | 312,350 |
1,258,880 | As a result of the poor communications between countries following the Chernobyl disaster in the Spring of 1986, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) was requested by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other international organizations to arrange for early warning messages about nuclear accidents to be transmitted over the Global Telecommunications System (GTS). In addition some WMO member countries that lacked extensive forecasting capability requested that specialized pollutant transport and dispersion forecasts be provided during these emergencies. As a result, during 1989 Meteo-France , Environment Canada and the United Kingdom's Met Office were all set up as RSMCs under interim arrangements between the WMO and the IAEA. Under these arrangements Meteo-France provided global coverage with the UKMO as the backup centre until each WMO region had at least two RSMCs for transport model products. The need for the rationalization of transport and dispersion forecasts became even more apparent during the oil fire emergency after the Persian Gulf War, when several organizations provided personnel on the ground with predictions of the smoke plume behaviour which were often misleading as there was no existing and well-recognized system to sort out the predictions from less experienced sources. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8369167 | 1,258,193 |
1,575,222 | A cognitive or "brain-to-brain" prosthesis involves neither learned input nor output signals, but the native signals used normally by the area of the brain to be replaced (or supported). Thus, such a device must be able to fully replace the function of a small section of the nervous system—using that section's normal mode of operation. In order to achieve this, developers require a deep understanding of the functioning of the nervous system. The scope of design must include a reliable mathematical model as well as the technology in order to properly manufacture and install a cognitive prosthesis. The primary goal of an artificial hippocampus is to provide a cure for Alzheimer's disease and other hippocampus—related problems. To do so, the prosthesis has to be able to receive information directly from the brain, analyze the information and give an appropriate output to the cerebral cortex; in other words, it must behave just like a natural hippocampus. At the same time, the artificial organ must be completely autonomous, since any exterior power source will greatly increase the risk of infection. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29826376 | 1,574,333 |
1,616,294 | Coming from the gun, Nigeria's Olabisi Afolabi was the first to break from the stagger formation in lane 3, gaining on Australia's Nova Peris-Kneebone to her outside. After the first half lap, Afolabi began to pay for her enthusiasm, tying up through the second turn where American Jearl Miles Clark and then Jamaican Sandie Richards began to assert themselves. The Jamaicans handed off slightly ahead of the Americans, but Monique Hennagan ran a strong turn to give the Americans the edge ahead of Catherine Scott, with the rest of the world, led by Nigeria and Australia, five metres back. Scott kept the gap less than a metre all the way to the home stretch, then moved into lane two to sprint for home, passing off to 400 hurdles silver medalist Deon Hemmings just ahead of Marion Jones. But Hemmings did not charge out ahead, instead allowing Jones to secure the baton. Narrowing the gap, Nigeria, Australia, Great Britain and Russia were all just a few metres back. Hemmings held second place to that same straightaway, but a late rush by Olga Kotlyarova had Russia handing off in second place. With no competitors near her, LaTasha Colander expanded the American lead to almost 20 metres with 100 metres to go before slowing going into the finish. Graham held off Privalova for the entire last lap. Cathy Freeman made a heroic effort to pull Australia back into fourth position, but let off the gas just before the line and was pipped by Falilat Ogunkoya. Australia's time was good enough for the Oceanian record, beating the record they set in the qualifying round. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8983416 | 1,615,383 |
1,971,727 | Subsequent work analyzed the players’ results in conjunction with results obtained from GRAPE and the stochastic ascent algorithms with a variety of seeding strategies (all free from the original numerical error). The in-game optimized solutions of the players "perform roughly on par with the best of the tested standard optimization methods performed on a computer cluster. In addition, cluster-optimized player seeds was the only method to exhibit roughly optimal performance across all three challenges." The investigated purely numerical algorithms all perform significantly worse on at least one of the challenges. Finally, the authors conclude that "player seeds show significant statistical advantages over random seeds in the limit of sparse sampling. This highlights the potential for crowdsourcing the solution of future quantum research problems." In their conclusion, the authors warn that "these results should only be understood as a necessary baseline study and a first demonstration for further exploration, and they should not be taken as a guarantee that player-based seeding is advantageous when comparing to increasingly complex algorithmic strategies." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41008786 | 1,970,593 |
784,842 | Cardiff School of Art & Design opened in 1865 as the Cardiff School of Art and is the oldest constituent part of the university. From September 2012 onwards CSAD's learning & teaching, research and enterprise activities are focused in thirteen 'subjects': Artist Designer: Maker, Architectural Design and Technology, Architecture, Animation, Ceramics, Fashion Design; Fine Art; Interior Design; Illustration; Textiles; Graphic Communication; Photography and Product Design. The school is housed in a modern building on the Llandaff Campus. The School houses a FabLab and Perceptual Experience Laboratory that are open to both the public and the student body. Workshop facilities for all subject areas are open to students on a cross disciplinary basis and include access to digital and manual processes including 3D scanning, chemical photographic developing, foundry casting and printmaking on and with ceramic, plastics and paper including one Columbia Press which is as old as the School itself. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1283728 | 784,422 |
1,353,396 | College House, the original 15th-century college, is a Grade I listed building built of sandstone in the shape of a lowercase 'b' with a slate roof. It is accessed by the original gatehouse; which was constructed on a plinth and contains the original timbers. The upper storey is accessed by an external staircase. Baronial Hall, once the Great Hall, contains many of its original features, such as its timber roof, dais and canopy. There is a large fireplace dating from the 19th century, and three windows likely to date from the 16th century. The Audit Room, originally a common room, contains a panelled ceiling with decorations suggesting it was installed by the Stanley family. The upper room, originally the warden's chamber, is now the library reading room, and contains a large bay window within an elaborate Tudor arch, as well as original 17th-century doors. The west part of the building surrounding the cloister courtyard contained accommodation known as sets, for people who lived in college. There were two rooms in each set on two floors, the lower floor being used as a study. Historian Clare Hartwell, describes the cobbled courtyard which has a restored well as "one of the most atmospheric spaces in the building". It is surrounded by many windows, which were probably originally unglazed. Inside there are several corridors and passages containing open beams and original stonework. To the east is the kitchen and associated rooms, and further east are rooms used for administration offices, most of which have been substantially altered. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=483941 | 1,352,649 |
669,100 | DFSS seeks to avoid manufacturing/service process problems by using advanced techniques to avoid process problems at the outset (e.g., fire prevention). When combined, these methods obtain the proper needs of the customer, and derive engineering system parameter requirements that increase product and service effectiveness in the eyes of the customer and all other people. This yields products and services that provide great customer satisfaction and increased market share. These techniques also include tools and processes to predict, model and simulate the product delivery system (the processes/tools, personnel and organization, training, facilities, and logistics to produce the product/service). In this way, DFSS is closely related to operations research (solving the knapsack problem), workflow balancing. DFSS is largely a design activity requiring tools including: quality function deployment (QFD), axiomatic design, TRIZ, Design for X, design of experiments (DOE), Taguchi methods, tolerance design, robustification and Response Surface Methodology for a single or multiple response optimization. While these tools are sometimes used in the classic DMAIC Six Sigma process, they are uniquely used by DFSS to analyze new and unprecedented products and processes. It is a concurrent analyzes directed to manufacturing optimization related to the design. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=718273 | 668,750 |
462,611 | Acknowledging these variations, many hypotheses have been established to reflect why these observations are task-dependent. Given that different senses develop at different rates, it has been proposed that cross-modal integration does not appear until both modalities have reached maturity. The human body undergoes significant physical transformation throughout childhood. Not only is there growth in size and stature (affecting viewing height), but there is also change in inter-ocular distance and eyeball length. Therefore, sensory signals need to be constantly re-evaluated to appreciate these various physiological changes. Some support comes from animal studies that explore the neurobiology behind integration. Adult monkeys have deep inter-neuronal connections within the superior colliculus providing strong, accelerated visuo-auditory integration. Young animals conversely, do not have this enhancement until unimodal properties are fully developed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1619306 | 462,382 |
330,279 | Hans-Ulrich Rudel, a Stuka ace, had suggested using two 37 mm (1.46 in) Flak 18 guns, each one in a self-contained under-wing gun pod, as the "Bordkanone BK 3,7", after achieving success against Soviet tanks with the 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon. These gun pods were fitted to a Ju 87 D-1, W.Nr 2552. The first flight of the machine took place on 31 January 1943, piloted by Stepp. The continuing problems with about two dozen of the Ju 88P-1 and slow development of the Henschel Hs 129B-3, both designs using the large, 7.5 cm Pak 40-based, autoloading Bordkanone 7,5 7.5 cm (2.95 in) cannon in a conformal gun pod beneath the fuselage, meant the Ju 87G was put into production. In April 1943, the first production Ju 87 G-1s were delivered to front line units. The two 37 mm (1.46 in) "Bordkanone" BK 3,7 cannons were mounted in under-wing gun pods, each loaded with two six-round magazines of armour-piercing tungsten carbide-cored ammunition. With these weapons, the "Kanonenvogel" ("cannon-bird"), as it was nicknamed, proved very successful in the hands of Stuka aces such as Rudel. The G-1 was converted from older D-series airframes, retaining the smaller wing, but without the dive brakes. The G-2 was similar to the G-1 except for use of the extended wing of the D-5. 208 G-2s were built and at least a further 22 more were converted from D-3 airframes. Only a handful of production Gs were committed in the Battle of Kursk. On the opening day of the offensive, Hans-Ulrich Rudel flew the only "official" Ju 87 G, although a significant number of Ju 87D variants were fitted with the 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon, and operated as unofficial Ju 87 Gs before the battle. In June 1943, the RLM ordered 20 Ju 87Gs as production variants. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16590 | 330,104 |
2,139,960 | Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry is a very versatile technique, consisting in a transfer of the formed complexes from the injected solution to the gas phase by a soft ionization process without strongly perturbing the complex stability. In addition, a small amount of the prepared solution needs to be injected to obtain the speciation spectra. Speciation of several metal ions can be investigated in monophasic solutions at increasing ligand concentration in order to explore all potential complexes. Collision Induced Dissociation (CID) analysis can be also performed to assess the kinetic stability of the formed complexes by discovering the main fragmentation pathway of the ligand. Besides, the protonation effect on the complexation mechanism can be observed by performing analysis on monophasic solutions at increasing nitric acid concentration. Corroboration of the major complexes involved into the extraction process is generally found by performing experiments on biphasic solutions upon extraction tests. Despite versatility of this spectroscopic technique that directly provides information by changing the ligand to metal ratios, its qualitative nature due to instrumental set-up and potential changes in solution chemistry could partially affect species distribution and its ion abundance. For these reasons, corroboration for the speciation results needs to be found by other spectroscopic techniques. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64345861 | 2,138,730 |
766,569 | Monetary and non-monetary measures of well-being are ideal when used to complement each other. Understanding the various aspects of economic development process not only helps address issues of inequality and lags in human development, but also helps to pinpoint where countries lag, which once addressed can further promote well-being and advancement. As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2006) notes: Well-being has several dimensions of which monetary factors are only one. They are nevertheless an important one, since richer economies are better placed to create and maintain other well-being-enhancing conditions, such as a clean environment, the likelihood that the average person will have a right to 10 years or more of education, and lead a comparatively long and healthy life. Well-being will also be increased by institutions that enable citizens to feel that they control their own lives, and that investment of their time and resources will be rewarded. In turn, this will lead to higher incomes in a virtuous circle. Simon Kuznets, the developer of GNP, cautioned against using the measure as an indicator of overall welfare, which speaks to the unintended use of output-based measures as indicators of human welfare. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3674777 | 766,159 |
785,263 | The MMU was used on three Shuttle missions in 1984. It was first tested on February 7 during mission STS-41-B by astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart. Two months later, during mission STS-41-C, astronauts James van Hoften and George Nelson attempted to use the MMU to capture the Solar Maximum Mission satellite and to bring it into the orbiter's payload bay for repairs and servicing. The plan was to use an astronaut-piloted MMU to grapple the SMM with the Trunion Pin Attachment Device (TPAD) mounted between the hand controllers of the MMU, null its rotation rates, and allow the Shuttle to bring it into the Shuttle's payload bay for stowage. Three attempts to grapple the satellite using the TPAD failed. The TPAD jaws could not lock onto Solar Max because of an obstructing grommet on the satellite not included in the blueprints for the satellite. This led to an improvised plan which nearly ended the satellite's mission. The improvisation had the MMU astronaut use his hands to grab hold of an SMM solar array and null the rates by a push from MMU's thrusters. Instead, this attempt induced higher rates and in multiple axes; the satellite was tumbling out of control and quickly losing battery life. SMM Operations Control Center engineers shut down all non-essential SMM subsystems and with a bit of luck were able to recover the SMM minutes before total failure. The ground support engineers then stabilized the satellite and nulled its rotation rates for capture with the orbiter's robotic arm, the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS). This proved to be a much better plan. Their successful work increased the lifespan of the satellite. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=329759 | 784,842 |
1,650,797 | Several museums were started in India including one at the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. There were also many who worked in the British Museum in London and received specimens collected from India. They made significant contributions by their publications. Edward Blyth (1810–1873) and Nelson Annandale (1876–1924) made great contributions working out of the Asiatic Society while Sir Norman Boyd Kinnear (1882–1957) worked at the BNHS. Other notable museum curators and workers include Alfred William Alcock (1859–1933), John Anderson (1833–1900), George Albert Boulenger (1858–1937), W. L. Distant (1845–1922), Frederic Henry Gravely (1885–?), John Gould (1804–1881), Albert C. L. G. Günther (1830–1914), Frank Finn (1868–1932), Charles McFarlane Inglis (1870–1954), Stanley Wells Kemp (1882–1945), James Wood-Mason (1846–1893), Reginald Innes Pocock (1863–1947), Richard Bowdler Sharpe (1847–1909), Malcolm A. Smith (1875–1958) and Nathaniel Wallich (1786–1854). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1186505 | 1,649,865 |
2,156,431 | During the Western African Ebola virus epidemic, science diplomats and other medical professionals traveled around the world to help track the outbreak. They tried to reduce the number of cases and deaths of the Ebola virus by studying the disease and testing possible vaccines or treatments to contain it. Even though it looked like they were not progressing, Scientists made huge efforts to minimize the Ebola virus. They tested many vaccines and treatments. Canadian scientists had been working on the Ebola vaccine research decades before the 2014–2016 outbreak. But, they were not making huge progress because they did not have enough funding. In 2010, Lead scientists left to do other research. But, one dedicated manager kept the research going. It wasn't until the 2014–2016 outbreak that they received more funding. In August 2014, Canada donated 3.6 million dollars to the WHO and MSF. Scientists received more than 120 million dollars from the Canadian government, the US government, and the WHO to support clinical trials during the epidemic. Canada developed the first vaccine approved by the world. Millions of dollars were spent to create the vaccine and it was developed by Merck. But it would not have happened without scientists from three different continents in multiple countries. The vaccine ERVEBO is used to protect against the Ebola virus. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in December 2019. Although there are no antiviral drugs approved by the FDA to treat people who currently have Ebola, there are alternative treatments such as: IV fluids, oxygen support, blood transfusions, and the vaccine ERVEBO, among others. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63936969 | 2,155,200 |
1,539,712 | Phyllobates bicolor, or more commonly referred to as the black-legged poison dart frog, is the world's second-most toxic dart frog. Under the genus "Phyllobates", this organism is often mistaken as "Phyllobates terribilis", the golden poison frog, as both are morphologically similar. However, "Phyllobates" "bicolor" is identifiable by the yellow or orange body and black or dark blue forelimbs and hindlegs, hence the name black-legged dart frog. "Phyllobates bicolor" are commonly found in tropical forests of the Chocó region of Colombia. The diurnal frogs live along the rainforest ground near streams or puddles that form. Notably, "P. bicolor" is a member of the family "Dendrobatidae", or poison dart frog. "P. bicolor," along with the rest of the "Phyllobates" species, produce a neurotoxin known as a batrachotoxin that inhibits specific transmembrane channels in cells. Due to this highly deadly toxin that the frogs secrete, many indigenous groups of the Colombian rainforest have extracted the toxins to create poison tipped darts used for hunting. During the breeding period, "P. bicolor" emits high pitched single notes as a mating call. As in all poison dart frogs, it is common for the father of tadpoles to carry the offspring on his back until they reach a suitable location for the tadpoles to develop. "P. bicolor" is an endangered species according to the IUCN red list. Currently, deforestation, habitat loss, and pollution pose the biggest threat to the species. Limited conservation efforts have been attempted to prevent further damage to the species. Despite this, there are still institutions such as the Baltimore National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland and the Tatamá National Park in Colombia that are engaged in "P. bicolor" conservation efforts such as captive breeding. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5495985 | 1,538,839 |
2,009,808 | Schlink was born in Darmstadt, near where his father, Wilhelm Schlink, was a professor of mechanics and aeronautics. The family of his mother, Ella, had been influenced by Herrnhut pietism. His only sibling, his sister Klara (1904-2001), who later called herself Mutter Basilea Schlink, became a popular religious writer and leader. Edmund Schlink attended public schools in Darmstadt. In 1922 he matriculated at Tübingen University, where he studied mathematics, philosophy, psychology, physics, and other natural sciences. He also attended the universities of Munich, Kiel, Vienna, and Marburg. He completed his first Ph.D. dissertation (in religious psychology) at Marburg in 1927. This dissertation explores personality changes in people who undergo a religious conversion and in those who are suffering from clinical depression. During the prior year (1926), he himself had undergone a religious conversion after suffering a crisis of faith. As a result of this experience, he changed his academic focus to theology, which he studied at the University of Münster. There he wrote his second dissertation (on a problem in natural theology), under the direction of Karl Barth. He then served as an assistant pastor to congregations in Buchschlag and Sprendlingen, and in the fall of 1932 he became a campus pastor at the Technical University of Darmstadt. In 1934 he completed his third dissertation, his post-doctoral theological thesis ("Habilitationsschrift"), which was accepted at the University of Giessen. This post-doctoral thesis in theological anthropology examines how human beings have been understood in the preaching of the church. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7037306 | 2,008,656 |
13,904 | The direction of causality between scientific discovery and technological innovation has been debated by scientists, philosophers and policymakers. Because innovation is often undertaken at the edge of scientific knowledge, most technologies are not derived from scientific knowledge, but instead from engineering, tinkering and chance. For example, in the 1940s and 1950s, when knowledge of turbulent combustion or fluid dynamics was still crude, jet engines were invented through "running the device to destruction, analyzing what broke [...] and repeating the process". Scientific explanations often follow technological developments rather than preceding them. Many discoveries also arose from pure chance, like the discovery of penicillin as a result of accidental lab contamination. Since the 1960s, the assumption that government funding of basic research would lead to the discovery of marketable technologies has lost credibility. Probabilist Nassim Taleb argues that national research programs that implement the notions of serendipity and convexity through frequent trial and error are more likely to lead to useful innovations than research that aims to reach specific outcomes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29816 | 13,899 |
1,927,768 | Dill was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1947. He attended MIT where he obtained a S.B. and S.M. in Mechanical Engineering (1971). He obtained his Ph.D. in 1978 at UCSD in the Biology Department working with Bruno H. Zimm, studying the biophysical properties of DNA molecules. Towards the end of his doctoral research, he had become interested in the mechanics of protein folding, specifically the way that the RNA-degrading enzyme Ribonuclease, folds into its native state. But before tackling the protein folding problem, he moved to Stanford University and worked with Paul J. Flory in Chemistry, for his post-doctoral training. After this, he went to the University of California, San Francisco, where he popularized the idea that any given protein's surrounding environment places constraints upon it, such that the shapes that it can assume are dramatically decreased. Dill introduced a toy model consisting of tethered beads on a lattice to mimic a folding protein, with beads of the same type (i.e. hydrophobic) attracting each other. Mathematically, the folding process can be visualized as a funnel, in which the several unfolded and misfolded high energy states of the protein occupy positions nearer the top of the funnel, but once the protein begins to fold, its options narrow down with the decrease in conformational entropy and the chain rapidly collapses into its most stable, low energy state. This state is sometimes identified with the native state of a natural protein. In Dill's words, "Like skiers all arriving at the same lodge, the folding protein gets systematically closer to the desired protein shape as it moves down the funnel". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35750522 | 1,926,664 |
1,655,534 | AutoSketch was developed by Foresight Resources under the name "Drafix" to run under Microsoft DOS, and was one of the first Windows based CAD software products. An Atari version was also available around 1989. Drafix won the first American Institute of Architect's "CAD Shoot-out". Among the features that made the original Drafix stand out when compared to the much more expensive AutoCAD were the ease of learning, the variety of dimensioning available out of the box, including relative dimensions, and being able to draw new primitives (line, circle, square, etc.) relative to existing primitives or points on them using keyboard shortcuts. One limitation of the first DOS release was that it needed to store all of a drawing in RAM, while editing and could not use any sort of swapping. This limited the size of the drawings. In later versions Drafix took advantage of virtual memory available in Windows to edit more complex drawings. One important limitation was that while Drafix was a complete drawing tool at a reasonable price for many industries, especially architecture and industrial design with relatively small drawings, it lacked the extendability AutoCAD had thanks to its LISP interpreter. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2655402 | 1,654,601 |
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