doc_id int32 18 2.25M | text stringlengths 245 2.96k | source stringlengths 38 44 | __index_level_0__ int64 18 2.25M |
|---|---|---|---|
277,055 | mTOR, specifically mTORC1, was first shown to be important in aging in 2003, in a study on worms; sirolimus was shown to inhibit and slow aging in worms, yeast, and flies, and then to improve the condition of mouse models of various diseases of aging. Sirolimus was first shown to extend lifespan in wild-type mice in a study published by NIH investigators in 2009; the studies have been replicated in mice of many different genetic backgrounds. A study published in 2020 found late-life sirolimus dosing schedules enhanced mouse lifespan in a sex-specific manner where limited rapamycin exposure enhanced male lifespan but not female, providing evidence for sex differences in sirolimus response. The results are further supported by the finding that genetically modified mice with impaired mTORC1 signalling live longer. Sirolimus has potential for widespread use as a longevity-promoting drug, with evidence pointing to its ability to prevent age-associated decline of cognitive and physical health. Due to known side effects of sirolimus, as well as inadequate evidence for optimal dosing, more research is required before sirolimus could be widely prescribed for this purpose. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=529476 | 276,905 |
480,865 | In theory, the use of expert knowledge would improve Go software. Hundreds of guidelines and rules of thumb for strong play have been formulated by both high-level amateurs and professionals. The programmer's task is to take these heuristics, formalize them into computer code, and utilize pattern matching and pattern recognition algorithms to recognize when these rules apply. It is also important to be able to "score" these heuristics so that when they offer conflicting advice, the system has ways to determine which heuristic is more important and applicable to the situation. Most of the relatively successful results come from programmers' individual skills at Go and their personal conjectures about Go, but not from formal mathematical assertions; they are trying to make the computer mimic the way they play Go. Competitive programs around 2001 could contain 50–100 modules that dealt with different aspects and strategies of the game, such as joseki. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=227021 | 480,621 |
1,308,720 | In order to ensure that no predictor can have prior information about a protein's structure that would put them at an advantage, it is important that the experiment be conducted in a double-blind fashion: Neither predictors nor the organizers and assessors know the structures of the target proteins at the time when predictions are made. Targets for structure prediction are either structures soon-to-be solved by X-ray crystallography or NMR spectroscopy, or structures that have just been solved (mainly by one of the structural genomics centers) and are kept on hold by the Protein Data Bank. If the given sequence is found to be related by common descent to a protein sequence of known structure (called a template), comparative protein modeling may be used to predict the tertiary structure. Templates can be found using sequence alignment methods (e.g. BLAST or HHsearch) or protein threading methods, which are better in finding distantly related templates. Otherwise, "de novo" protein structure prediction must be applied (e.g. Rosetta), which is much less reliable but can sometimes yield models with the correct fold (usually, for proteins less than 100-150 amino acids). Truly new folds are becoming quite rare among the targets, making that category smaller than desirable. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=461517 | 1,308,004 |
341,245 | To prevent gases from compromising the tube's vacuum, modern tubes are constructed with getters, which are usually metals that oxidize quickly, barium being the most common. For glass tubes, while the tube envelope is being evacuated, the internal parts except the getter are heated by RF induction heating to evolve any remaining gas from the metal parts. The tube is then sealed and the getter trough or pan, for flash getters, is heated to a high temperature, again by radio frequency induction heating, which causes the getter material to vaporize and react with any residual gas. The vapor is deposited on the inside of the glass envelope, leaving a silver-colored metallic patch that continues to absorb small amounts of gas that may leak into the tube during its working life. Great care is taken with the valve design to ensure this material is not deposited on any of the working electrodes. If a tube develops a serious leak in the envelope, this deposit turns a white color as it reacts with atmospheric oxygen. Large transmitting and specialized tubes often use more exotic getter materials, such as zirconium. Early gettered tubes used phosphorus-based getters, and these tubes are easily identifiable, as the phosphorus leaves a characteristic orange or rainbow deposit on the glass. The use of phosphorus was short-lived and was quickly replaced by the superior barium getters. Unlike the barium getters, the phosphorus did not absorb any further gases once it had fired. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32496 | 341,064 |
1,297,816 | Bioprospecting of marine and oceanic resources, through which the institute has produced several nutraceuticals useful for treating life style diseases and dietary supplements from seaweeds has been recognised. The institute has developed and commercialized the nutraceutical products CadalminTM Green Algal extract (CadalminTMGAe) and Antidiabetic extract (CadalminTMADe to combat rheumatic arthritic pains and type-2 diabetes, respectively. Nutraceuticals from seaweeds to combat dyslipidemia and obesity and treat hypo-thyroid have also been developed and products are being out-licensed to pharmaceutical companies. βNodadetect a single tube RT lamp diagnostic for β-Noda virus detection in marine fish of mariculture interest has been developed by the institute. This highly specific, sensitive and rapid method of screening marine broodstock fish ensures certified specific pathogen free eggs and larvae. To understand the population genetic structure of fishery resources in Indian waters specific studies were carried out. The complete mitogenome characterisation of "Etroplus suratensis" from Vembanad Lake, genetic stock structure investigations in "Lutjanus argentimaculatu"s and Indian oil sardine "Sardinella longicep"s and bioprospecting for biotic and abiotic stress responsive genes from "Crassostrea madrasensis" and their characterisation have yielded valuable baseline data. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5116330 | 1,297,104 |
1,233,094 | LASL next intended to test Kiwi B2, but structural flaws were found that required a redesign. Attention then switched to B4, a more radical design, but when they tried to put the fuel clusters into the core, the clusters were found to have too many neutrons, and it was feared that the reactor might unexpectedly start up. The problem was traced to absorption of water from the normally dry New Mexico air during storage. It was corrected by adding more neutron poison. After this, fuel elements were stored in an inert atmosphere. N Division then decided to test with the backup B1 engine, B1B, despite grave doubts about it based on the results of the B1A test, in order to obtain more data on the performance and behavior of liquid hydrogen. On startup on 1 September 1962, the core shook, but reached 880 MW. Flashes of light around the nozzle indicated that fuel pellets were being ejected; it was later determined that eleven had been. Rather than shut down, the testers rotated the drums to compensate, and were able to continue running at full power for a few minutes before a sensor blew and started a fire, and the engine was shut down. Most but not all of the test objectives were met. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23821416 | 1,232,431 |
1,515,953 | In practice it is not possible to obtain the quoted theoretical maximum throughput rate for machines in a placement system. It is necessary to derate the theoretical numbers to obtain realistic values, due to unexpected downtime, board load and unload time and machine configuration. Other factors include PWB size, component mix, and the requirement for more complex vision recognition for fine-pitch components. There are many techniques of derating. Global derating considers system-wide stops, slow-downs and set ups as well as machine factors. To calculate the amount of global or system derating, one should take the average of the number of total components placed per hour in a long period (i.e. an entire product shift). Regularly scheduled stops should be included when determining the level of global derating the system requires. Rigorous derating, which considers each piece of equipment in service for a particular product individually, must be conducted by specific machine model for the line balancing. Rigorous derating values are necessary for full optimization of the process. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42835913 | 1,515,101 |
460,753 | Details of the pratfall effect were first described by Aronson in his experiment testing the effects of a simple blunder on perceived attraction. The experimental subjects consisted of male students from the University of Minnesota who would listen to tape recordings of a confederate (actor) pretending to be a contestant for the show College Bowl. The tapes contained staged interviews with difficult questions given to a confederate, who plays the role of either an unrealistically knowledgeable individual that almost always answers correctly (92%) or a mediocre one that answers only a few questions correctly (30%). After the questioning, the strong-performing actor admits to a stellar high school career marked with academic and nonacademic successes, while the unremarkable actor describes an ordinary high school career, earning average grades with weak involvement in extracurriculars. At the end of the interview, some tapes recorded the actor spilling a cup of coffee and apologizing for doing so, while others omitted this portion to serve as a control. Aronson's research found that a knowledgeable blunderer was rated to be more attractive, while the more average ones suffered decreases in their perceived attractiveness. Later research inspired by Aronson experimentally defined appeal as a combination of liking and respect and replicated similar results. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8260995 | 460,527 |
2,020,177 | Circuit Scribe allows users to create a paper Arduino (or a ‘paperduino’), which is demonstrated by the research team. The team first found the schematics on the Arduino website and modified them so that they would work on a pen plotter. With a few modifications, they arranged the components and traces so that the board could be printed in a single layer. The alignments are set to 0.6 millimeters to match the width of the pen traces with a minimum distance of 0.1 millimeters. The pen plotter only prints lines and does not fill the patterns, so they designed large pads out of concentric circles and built up the pads for the components with some extra line features. This allows for a stronger conductivity. It is important to put chips close together to minimize the line resistance between them, but not so close that it is difficult to place the components. They used components from the 1206 package which are a bit larger than the original components from the Arduino. Before exporting the layout, they deselected every layer of the file except the top layer of traces. After exporting the file in .dxf format, both the wire width and the fill area options were deselected and the files were saved. Finally, the team measured the size of the board layout and dragged it onto a new sheet on Silhouette Studio. From there, the vertical height was adjusted to 2.945 inches and the speed was set to 1 in order to lay down the most ink when printed. The team went on to place components like resistors, capacitors, and LEDs on the printed silver ink. Components can be attached using tweezers and super glue, but can be reinforced using conductive epoxy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44390229 | 2,019,014 |
964,615 | Windows Server 2012 includes a new version of Windows Task Manager together with the old version. In the new version the tabs are hidden by default, showing applications only. In the new Processes tab, the processes are displayed in varying shades of yellow, with darker shades representing heavier resource use. Information found in the older versions are now moved to the new Details tab. The Performance tab shows "CPU", "Memory", "Disk", "Wi-Fi" and "Ethernet" graphs. Unlike the Windows 8 version of Task Manager (which looks similar), the "Disk" activity graph is not enabled by default. The CPU tab no longer displays individual graphs for every logical processor on the system by default, although that remains an option. Additionally, it can display data for each non-uniform memory access (NUMA) node. When displaying data for each logical processor for machines with more than 64 logical processors, the CPU tab now displays simple utilization percentages on heat-mapping tiles. The color used for these heat maps is blue, with darker shades again indicating heavier utilization. Hovering the cursor over any logical processor's data now shows the NUMA node of that processor and its ID, if applicable. Additionally, a new Startup tab has been added that lists startup applications, however this tab does not exist in Windows Server 2012. The new task manager recognizes when a Windows Store app has the "Suspended" status. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34201152 | 964,106 |
809,419 | "Wholesale buyers, particularly the military food supply system, hav[ing] been implicated multiple times in the illegal distribution of contaminated meat" were vectors for the virus's spread, said the Food and Agriculture Organization report—and evidence of that was "repeated outbreaks in Leningrad oblast". The report warned that "countries immediately bordering the Russian Federation, particularly Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and Latvia, are most vulnerable to [African swine fever] introduction and endemic establishment, largely because the biosecurity of their pig sector is predominantly low. Preventing the spread of [African swine fever] into Ukraine is particularly critical for the whole pig production sector in Europe. Given the worrisome developments in the Russian Federation, European countries have to be alert. They must be ready to prevent and to react effectively to [African swine fever] introductions into their territories for many years to come...". To stop the virus's spread, "the current scenario in the Russian Federation suggests that [prevention] should be particularly stressed at the often informal backyard level and should involve not just pig keepers, but all actors along the whole value chain—butchers, middlemen, slaughterhouses, etc. … They need to be aware of how to prevent and recognize the disease, and must understand the importance of reporting outbreaks to the national authorities … It is particularly important that [African swine fever]-free areas remain free by preventing the [re]introduction of the disease and by swiftly responding to it when it occurs". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5094165 | 808,989 |
1,920,034 | In 1933, Schoenheimer emigrated to the United States, where his scientific research took a different focus. Prior to his emigration, his work was mostly focused on the metabolism of cholesterol. In 1934 Schoenheimer began his work on intermediary metabolism, and how stable isotopes could be applied to the study. Schoenheimer worked alongside David Rittenburg and later Konrad Bloch. Schoenheimer and his colleagues began their research by conducting experiments with the use of deuterium. Deuterium, which is a stable isotope of hydrogen, was discovered by physical chemist Harold Urey in 1932. One of the methods used in the experiment involved heavy water administered into animals in order to analyse the deuterium present in the different constituents of the body. This suggested which type of substances were utilising the hydrogen present in body fluids and revealed the role water posed in metabolic processes. Their experiment also provided information regarding the breakdown process of lipid compounds containing deuterium in experimental animals. Prior to this study, it was assumed that animals utilised fats directly from foods that they had recently ingested, and that fat stores were only used amid starvation. The experiment revealed that fatty acids remained stored in body depots even during starvation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=669677 | 1,918,932 |
1,172,560 | The field of vision of the diver is reduced by opaque parts of the helmet or mask. Peripheral vision is particularly reduced in the lower areas due to the bulk of the demand valve. Helmet design is a compromise between low mass and inertia, with relatively small interior volume and viewports affording restricted field of vision, and large viewports with large interior volume. Siting the viewport close to the eyes helps provide a better view but is complicated by the need for sufficient clearance in front of the nose for a wide range of divers. Curved viewports can introduce visual distortions that can reduce the effectiveness of the diver at judging distance, and almost all viewports are made flat. Even a flat viewport causes some distortion, but it takes relatively little time to get used to this, as it is always the same. Spherical port surfaces are generally used in recent atmospheric suits for structural reasons, and work well when the interior volume is large enough. They can be made wide enough for adequate peripheral vision. Field of vision in helmets is affected by mobility of the helmet. A helmet directly supported by the head can rotate with the head, allowing the diver to aim the viewport at the target, but peripheral vision is constrained by the dimensions of the viewport, the weight in air and unbalanced buoyancy forces when immersed must be carried by the neck, and inertial and hydrodynamic loads must be carried by the neck. A helmet fixed to a breastplate is supported by the torso, which can safely support much greater loads, but does not rotate with the head. The entire upper body must rotate to direct the field of vision. This makes it necessary to use larger viewports so the diver has an acceptable field of vision at times when rotating the body is impractical. The need to rotate the head inside the non-rotatable helmet requires internal clearance, therefore a large volume, and consequently a greater mass of ballast. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63557168 | 1,171,941 |
953,314 | One frequently cited text is the Syrian-Greek writer Lucian of Samosata's 2nd-century satire "True History", which uses a voyage to outer space and conversations with alien life forms to comment on the use of exaggeration within travel literature and debates. Typical science fiction themes and topoi in "True History" include travel to outer space, encounter with alien life-forms (including the experience of a first encounter event), interplanetary warfare and planetary imperialism, motif of , creatures as products of human technology, worlds working by a set of alternative physical laws, and an explicit desire of the protagonist for exploration and adventure. In witnessing one interplanetary battle between the People of the Moon and the People of the Sun as the fight for the right to colonize the Morning Star, Lucian describes giant space spiders who were "appointed to spin a web in the air between the Moon and the Morning Star, which was done in an instant, and made a plain campaign upon which the foot forces were planted..." L. Sprague de Camp and a number of other authors argue this to be one of the earliest if not the earliest example of science fiction or proto-science fiction. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3387802 | 952,809 |
1,263,058 | Safety standards are being developed by the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) in conjunction with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).[2] On October 5, 2017, OSHA, NIOSH and RIA signed an alliance to work together to enhance technical expertise, identify and help address potential workplace hazards associated with traditional industrial robots and the emerging technology of human-robot collaboration installations and systems, and help identify needed research to reduce workplace hazards. On October 16 NIOSH launched the Center for Occupational Robotics Research to "provide scientific leadership to guide the development and use of occupational robots that enhance worker safety, health, and well being". So far, the research needs identified by NIOSH and its partners include: tracking and preventing injuries and fatalities, intervention and dissemination strategies to promote safe machine control and maintenance procedures, and on translating effective evidence-based interventions into workplace practice. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56830451 | 1,262,370 |
951,658 | Safety standards are being developed by the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) in conjunction with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). On October 5, 2017, OSHA, NIOSH and RIA signed an alliance to work together to enhance technical expertise, identify and help address potential workplace hazards associated with traditional industrial robots and the emerging technology of human-robot collaboration installations and systems, and help identify needed research to reduce workplace hazards. On October 16 NIOSH launched the Center for Occupational Robotics Research to "provide scientific leadership to guide the development and use of occupational robots that enhance worker safety, health, and wellbeing." So far, the research needs identified by NIOSH and its partners include: tracking and preventing injuries and fatalities, intervention and dissemination strategies to promote safe machine control and maintenance procedures, and on translating effective evidence-based interventions into workplace practice. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=147918 | 951,153 |
577,891 | Because of its direct relevance to products of commerce, solid state inorganic chemistry has been strongly driven by technology. Progress in the field has often been fueled by the demands of industry, sometimes in collaboration with academia. Applications discovered in the 20th century include zeolite and platinum-based catalysts for petroleum processing in the 1950s, high-purity silicon as a core component of microelectronic devices in the 1960s, and “high temperature” superconductivity in the 1980s. The invention of X-ray crystallography in the early 1900s by William Lawrence Bragg was an enabling innovation. Our understanding of how reactions proceed at the atomic level in the solid state was advanced considerably by Carl Wagner's work on oxidation rate theory, counter diffusion of ions, and defect chemistry. Because of his contributions, he has sometimes been referred to as the "father of solid state chemistry". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66315 | 577,595 |
1,041,724 | Buffer tanks store the hot water the biomass appliance generates and circulates it around the heating system. Sometimes referred to as 'thermal stores', they are crucial for the efficient operation of all biomass boilers where the system loading fluctuates rapidly, or the volume of water in the complete hydraulic system is relatively small. Using a suitably sized buffer vessel prevents rapid cycling of the boiler when the loading is below the minimum boiler output. Rapid cycling of the boiler causes a large increase in harmful emissions such as Carbon monoxide, dust, and NOx, greatly reduces boiler efficiency and increases electrical consumption of the unit. In addition, service and maintenance requirements will be increased as parts are stressed by rapid heating and cooling cycles. Although most boilers claim to be able to turn down to 30% of nominal output, in the real world this is often not achievable due to differences in the fuel from the 'ideal' or test fuel. A suitably sized buffer tank should therefore be considered where the loading of the boiler drops below 50% of the nominal output – in other words unless the biomass component is purely base load, the system should include a buffer tank. In any case where the secondary system does not contain sufficient water for safe removal of residual heat from the biomass boiler irrespective of the loading conditions, the system must include a suitably sized buffer tank. The residual heat from a biomass unit varies greatly depending on the boiler design and the thermal mass of the combustion chamber. Light weight, fast response boilers require only 10L/kW, while industrial wet wood units with very high thermal mass require 40L/kW. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9774491 | 1,041,181 |
1,290,264 | In 2000, the missions were very different: for instance, calculating the opening of a landing system using data provided by the barometer or making use of a differential GPS system. The project came to a more complex situation in 2001 when the ComeBack category was added, according to which the satellite should be directed to a particular target. This mission was very successful and, in 2002, students of Space Robotics Lab of the Tohoku University went up to 45 meters from the target and, in 2006, this figure dropped to 6 meters. Interest in this type of satellite has been growing and spreading. In 2003, the University of Tokyo placed into orbit two satellites CubeSat, satellites of a size slightly larger than the CanSats, and cube shaped. In recent years, several competitions have been developed following the same concept proposed by Prof. Bob Twiggs and reflected in ARLISS both national and internationally. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33410235 | 1,289,554 |
1,486,833 | With the death of his father in 1848, he inherited the large fortune created by both his father's and grandfather's enterprises, permitting him, his large household and his relatives a comfortable life. Up to 11 servants were employed to administer to his manor and estate. Boulton's inheritance made him wealthy, but he had little desire to continue his family's businesses which he subsequently closed, disposing of their assets by sale. His financial independence allowed him to pursue studies and writings as a philosopher-scientist on a wide variety of subjects. Among them were at least two pamphlets in the early 1860s refuting the authenticity of purported 18th-century photographs; verse translations of the classics including Homer's "Iliad", Virgil's "Æneid" and other classical works during the mid-1870s; papers on metaphysics from the late 1870s, and as well two pamphlets on solar energy written in the early 1890s. He earned over a dozen patents for multiple inventions, many of them for aircraft propulsion systems. At least one patent was assigned to George Westinghouse, Jr, the American industrial tycoon. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39213072 | 1,485,995 |
637,438 | In a 1966 Ph.D. thesis, "The On-line Graphical Specification of Computer Procedures", Bert Sutherland created one of the first graphical dataflow programming frameworks in order to make parallel programming easier. Subsequent dataflow languages were often developed at the large supercomputer labs. POGOL, an otherwise conventional data-processing language developed at NSA, compiled large-scale applications composed of multiple file-to-file operations, e.g. merge, select, summarize, or transform, into efficient code that eliminated the creation of or writing to intermediate files to the greatest extent possible. SISAL, a popular dataflow language developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, looks like most statement-driven languages, but variables should be assigned once. This allows the compiler to easily identify the inputs and outputs. A number of offshoots of SISAL have been developed, including SAC, "Single Assignment C", which tries to remain as close to the popular C programming language as possible. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1079396 | 637,099 |
140,214 | On 16 October 2017, the LIGO and Virgo collaborations announced the first-ever detection of gravitational waves originating from the coalescence of a binary neutron star system. The observation of the GW170817 transient, which occurred on 17 August 2017, allowed for constraining the masses of the neutron stars involved between 0.86 and 2.26 solar masses. Further analysis allowed a greater restriction of the mass values to the interval 1.17–1.60 solar masses, with the total system mass measured to be 2.73–2.78 solar masses. The inclusion of the Virgo detector in the observation effort allowed for an improvement of the localization of the source by a factor of 10. This in turn facilitated the electromagnetic follow-up of the event. In contrast to the case of binary black hole mergers, binary neutron star mergers were expected to yield an electromagnetic counterpart, that is, a light signal associated with the event. A gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) was detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, occurring 1.7 seconds after the gravitational wave transient. The signal, originating near the galaxy NGC 4993, was associated with the neutron star merger. This was corroborated by the electromagnetic follow-up of the event (AT 2017gfo), involving 70 telescopes and observatories and yielding observations over a large region of the electromagnetic spectrum which further confirmed the neutron star nature of the merged objects and the associated kilonova. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8111079 | 140,157 |
1,760,974 | However, for the endurance races and the Australian Grand Prix support races, Perkins Engineering picked up significant sponsorship from Bob Jane T-Marts, and the car was painted yellow and blue, the colors of the T-Marts. Driving with Steve Harrington, Perkins proved there was life in the older model VL Commodore which won first time out in Bob Jane colors at the 1992 Don't Drink Drive Sandown 500 after a late race battle with the BMW M3 Evolution of Tony Longhurst and Paul Morris. Perkins then sensationally put the Commodore onto the front row for the 1992 Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst, but alternator and tire problems in the rainstorms that marred the race (and eventually caused its early finish) saw them eventually finish in 9th place. While driving the older VL, Perkins also pointed out during the top ten runoff at Bathurst that the only 'old' thing about the car was its superseded body shape. The speed of the Perkins VL at Bathurst raised questions about the legality of the car, though Perkins' qualifying time of 2:14.08 was only 0.74 seconds faster than he had qualified in 1990. Also, in that same time period other cars such as the Sierras and the 4WD, twin-turbo Nissan GTR had also improved their own lap times at Bathurst by around 2–3 seconds per lap. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6922736 | 1,759,981 |
95,672 | Jaguars were successfully sold to a number of overseas countries, India being the largest operator. The "Jaguar International" was an export version which was sold to Ecuador, Nigeria and Oman. The Ecuadorian Air Force, the only Latin American export customer, purchased 10 single- and 2 two-seat variants, officially designated "Jaguars ES" and "EB", respectively. The first of twelve aircraft arrived in January 1977. They were used mainly for ground attack roles and occasionally for air superiority duties during the Cenepa War with Peru in 1995, but the main part of the fleet was held in reserve in case of a wider conflict with the Peruvians. Nigeria ordered 13 single-seat "SN" and 5 two-seat "BN" variants; SEPECAT delivered the first of these in May 1984. A subsequent order for an 18-aircraft second batch was cancelled. Some of those in service were withdrawn from operations on the grounds of economy, with the remaining aircraft put up for re-sale. The Royal Air Force of Oman ordered 10 single-seat and 2 two-seat variants, designated "Jaguars OS" and "OB", respectively; the first was delivered in March 1977. A second identical 12-aircraft order was placed in the mid-1980s; these were joined by two secondhand Indian and RAF examples. The last of the Omani aircraft were retired on 6 August 2014. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=176232 | 95,631 |
790,438 | The Winkler index uses the standard method of calculating growing degree-days in viticulture and is based on using a base temperature of 50 °F (10 °C) with no upper temperature cut-off. The first issue is that 50 °F (10 °C) is not likely the best base temperature even though it is the most commonly used value. Even the early research on this topic stressed that the base temperature threshold for accumulation for early versus late budding varieties is likely strongly cultivar specific. Various research worldwide has pointed to base temperatures ranging from 39 to 45 °F (4 to 7 °C), but there has been little confirmation of these thresholds across numerous wine regions and for a wider range of varieties. At the other end of the formula, the calculation for growing degree-days used in viticulture and wine production does not normally use an upper cut-off. Conceptually an upper cut-off would be applied if the plant system stopped being photosynthetically active at some point due to heat stress from high temperatures. While this may be proven for some crops, there is not a universal number for an upper threshold for grapes so the majority of the published data for comparison purposes in viticulture and wine production does not limit maximum temperatures. This issue is problematic because many weather stations today have integrated the corn growing degree-day method in their software. The corn growing degree-day method uses both a base temperature adjustment and an upper threshold, neither of which are common in viticulture and wine production use, and can confound any comparison with published data using the simple average method. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6569214 | 790,013 |
1,472,264 | Schur found himself lonely after the flight of many of his students and the expulsion of renowned scientists from his previous place of work. Only Dr. Helmut Grunsky had been friendly to him, as Schur reported in the late thirties to his expatriate student Max Menachem Schiffer. The Gestapo was everywhere. Since Schur had announced to his wife his intentions to commit suicide in case of a summons to the Gestapo, in the summer of 1938 his wife took his letters, and with them a summons from the Gestapo, sent Issai Schur to a relaxing stay in a home outside of Berlin and went with medical certificate allowing her to meet the Gestapo in place of her husband. There they flatly asked why they were still staying in Germany. But there were economic obstacles to the planned emigration: emigrating Germans had a pre-departure Reich Flight Tax to pay, which was a quarter of their assets. Now Schur's wife had inherited a mortgage on a house in Lithuania, which because of the Lithuanian foreign exchange determination could not be repaid. On the other hand, Schur was forbidden to default or leave the mortgage to the German Reich. Thus the Schurs lacked cash and cash equivalents. Finally, the missing sum of money was somehow supplied, and to this day it does not seem to be clear who were the donors. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=617522 | 1,471,435 |
1,792,869 | Each gun is supported by an installation built in a tunnel connected to the gun turret and magazine. This installation provides fire control, power supply and accommodation for the gun crew and is designed to provide power, food and water for weeks despite being sealed off from the outside world.<br> It uses an older construction technique, pioneered in the 1920s and common in the 1950s, which involved blasting a large tunnel inside of which a concrete building was erected. A non-military but very visible example of this construction technique are the older stations of the Stockholm Metro. This technique proved inadequate when better research on the effects of nuclear weapons became available. It is debated that the concrete structures which were rigidly built on the tunnel floor could collapse from the ground shockwave of a nearby nuclear detonation. Starting in the 1960s, all newer installations were built with steel-framed structures isolated from the surrounding rock with some type of elastic dampers (springs, rubber blocks, etc.). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23079435 | 1,791,860 |
1,882,527 | Baxter was born in Wales, but grew up in England, entering the University of Birmingham at age 16. He joined Imperial Chemical Industries as a chemical engineer, and became head of the Central Laboratory of its General Chemicals Division in Widnes, investigating the chemistry of chlorine and fluorine. He was elected to the Widnes Municipal Council in 1939, a seat he held until 1949. During the Second World War he provided James Chadwick with samples of uranium hexafluoride for Tube Alloys, the British wartime nuclear weapons program, and later established a pilot plant to produce it in Widnes. In 1944, in response to a request from the Americans for someone with expertise in both uranium chemistry and industrial operations, he went to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to assist the Manhattan Project. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18243283 | 1,881,446 |
1,232,380 | Pressureless sintering is another method for processing and densifying UHTCs. Pressureless sintering involves heating powdered materials in a mold in order to promote atomic diffusion and create a solid material. Compacts are prepared by uniaxial die compaction, and then the compacts are fired at chosen temperatures in a controlled atmosphere. Exaggerated grain growth that hinders densification occurs during sintering due to the low-intrinsic sinterability and the strong covalent bonds of Ti, Zr, and Hf diborides. Full densification of ZrB by pressureless sintering is very difficult to obtain; Chamberlain et al. have only been able to obtain ~98% densification by heating at 2,150 °C for 9 h (Figure 3). Efforts to control grain size and improve densification have focused on adding third phases to the UHTCs, some examples of these phases include the addition of boron and iridium. Addition of Ir in particular has shown an increase in the toughness of HfB/20 vol.% SiC by 25%. Sintered density has also been shown to increase with the addition of Fe (up to 10% w/w) and Ni (up to 50% w/w) to achieve densifications of up to 88% at 1,600 °C. More advances in pressureless sintering must be made before it can be considered a viable method for UHTC processing. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38050893 | 1,231,718 |
436,359 | Viewed as out-of-date and emblematic of the excesses of the 19th century, Second Empire architecture was derided in the 20th century, particularly starting in the 1930s.The destruction of such notable buildings as Toronto's forty-five year old Customs House (1876-1919) exemplify the desire to transition away from French architectural styles. Of Mullet's State, War, and Navy Building, for instance, Woodrow Wilson commented negatively on the building for displaying "every architectural style known to man" and made plans to remodel it, stripping the structure of its Second Empire features. Expensive to maintain, many Second Empire structures fell into decay and were demolished. Philadelphia's City Hall (1871–1901) was narrowly saved from demolition in the 1950s because of the expense of demolishing it, but New York's City Hall Post Office and Courthouse (1869–1880), termed "Mullett's Monstrosity", was demolished in 1939. This development allowed Second Empire domestic architecture to assume a new role in the American imagination, that of the haunted house. This may have been prompted by changes in aesthetics in the 1930s, in favor of cold austere functional buildings, the opposite of elaborate, but decaying Second Empire houses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52026515 | 436,145 |
960,803 | Chobham armour defeats HEAT warheads by disrupting the high speed jet generated by the warhead. The outer steel "burster" plate detonates the shell and protects the composite array from the blast, increasing the armour's multi hit abilities. After making it through the burster plate, the jet penetrates into the first NERA plate, and begins to compress the elastomer. The elastomer quickly reaches maximum compression and rapidly expands, pushing the two steel plates in opposite directions. It is the movement of the steel plates that disrupts the jet, both by feeding more material into the jet's path, and introducing lateral forces to break the jet apart. The effectiveness of the system was amply demonstrated in Desert Storm, where not a single British Army Challenger tank was lost to enemy tank fire. (However, one was destroyed by friendly fire on March 25, 2003, killing two crew members after a HESH projectile detonated on the commander's hatch causing high-velocity fragments to enter the turret.) Chobham-type armour is currently in its third generation and is used on modern western tanks such as the British Challenger 2 and the American M1 Abrams. The Abrams is also unique in its usage of depleted uranium armour plates in conjunction with composite armour, increasing overall vehicle protection. The Leopard 2A4 is similar in its use of tungsten inserts. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=81825 | 960,294 |
282,266 | The theory of an anti-tumoral response of the immune system "in vivo" was recognized by the physician William B. Coley. In 1968, Gale A Granger from the University of California, Irvine, reported a cytotoxic factor produced by lymphocytes and named it lymphotoxin (LT). Credit for this discovery is shared by Nancy H. Ruddle from Yale University, who reported the same activity in a series of back-to-back articles published in the same month. Subsequently, in 1975 Lloyd J. Old from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, reported another cytotoxic factor produced by macrophages and named it "tumor necrosis factor" (TNF). Both factors were described based on their ability to kill mouse fibrosarcoma L-929 cells. These concepts were extended to systemic disease in 1981, when Ian A. Clark, from the Australian National University, in collaboration with Elizabeth Carswell in Old's group, working with pre-sequencing era data, reasoned that excessive production of TNF causes malaria disease and endotoxin poisoning. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=240843 | 282,113 |
144,349 | The targeting of infectious diseases for eradication is based on narrow criteria, as both biological and technical features determine whether a pathogenic organism is (at least potentially) eradicable. The targeted pathogen must not have a significant non-human (or non-human-dependent) reservoir (or, in the case of animal diseases, the infection reservoir must be an easily identifiable species, as in the case of rinderpest). This requires sufficient understanding of the life cycle and transmission of the pathogen. An efficient and practical intervention (such as a vaccine or antibiotic) must be available to interrupt transmission. Studies of measles in the pre-vaccination era led to the concept of the critical community size, the minimal size of the population below which a pathogen ceases to circulate. The use of vaccination programs before the introduction of an eradication campaign can reduce the susceptible population. The disease to be eradicated should be clearly identifiable, and an accurate diagnostic tool should exist. Economic considerations, as well as societal and political support and commitment, are other crucial factors that determine eradication feasibility. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14499186 | 144,291 |
900,417 | Cultural and heterodox applications of economic interaction around the world have begun to be included as ecological economic practices. E.F. Schumacher introduced examples of non-western economic ideas to mainstream thought in his book, "Small is Beautiful", where he addresses neoliberal economics through the lens of natural harmony in Buddhist economics. This emphasis on natural harmony is witnessed in diverse cultures across the globe. "Buen Vivir" is a traditional socio-economic movement in South America that rejects the western development model of economics. Meaning G"ood Life", "Buen Vivir" emphasizes harmony with nature, diverse pluralculturism, coexistence, and inseparability of nature and material. Value is not attributed to material accumulation, and it instead takes a more spiritual and communitarian approach to economic activity. Ecological Swaraj originated out of India, and is an evolving world view of human interactions within the ecosystem. This train of thought respects physical bio-limits and non-human species, pursuing equity and social justice through direct democracy and grassroots leadership. Social well-being is paired with spiritual, physical, and material well-being. These movements are unique to their region, but the values can be seen across the globe in indigenous traditions, such as the Ubuntu Philosophy in South Africa. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=177694 | 899,942 |
1,509,969 | The mechanisms governing the basic subsistence of eukaryotic cells are immensely complex; it is therefore unsurprising that regulation occurs at a number of stages of protein synthesis – the regulation of translation has become a well-studied field. Human translational control is of increasing research interest as it has connotations in a range of diseases. Orthologs of many of the factors involved in human translation are shared by a range of eukaryotic organisms; some of which are used as model systems for the investigation of translation initiation and elongation, for example: sea urchin eggs upon fertilization, rodent brain and rabbit reticulocytes. Monod and Jacob were among the first to propose that "the synthesis of individual proteins may be provoked or suppressed within a cell, under the influence of specific external agents, and the relative rates at which different proteins may be profoundly altered, depending upon external conditions". Almost half a century after the flurry of postulations arising from the revelation of the central dogma of molecular biology, of which the preceding supposition by Monod and Jacob is an example; contemporary researchers still have much to learn about the modulation of genetic expression. Synthesis of protein from mature messenger RNA in eukaryotes is divided into translation initiation, elongation, and termination of these stages; the initiation of translation is the rate limiting step. Within the process of translation initiation; the bottleneck occurs shortly before the ribosome binds to the 5’ m7GTP facilitated by a number of proteins; it is at this stage that constrictions born of stress, amino acid starvation etc. take effect. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20246302 | 1,509,119 |
15,258 | The first order included an option for another 110, which was exercised in June 1992. Batch II consisted of 96 one-seat JAS 39As and 14 two-seat JAS 39Bs. The JAS 39B variant is 66 cm (26 in) longer than the JAS 39A to accommodate a second seat, which also necessitated the deletion of the cannon and a reduced internal fuel capacity. By April 1994, five prototypes and two series-production Gripens had been completed; but a beyond-visual-range missile (BVR) had not yet been selected. A third batch was ordered in June 1997, composed of 50 upgraded single-seat JAS 39Cs and 14 JAS 39D two-seaters, known as 'Turbo Gripen', with NATO compatibility for exports. Batch III aircraft, delivered between 2002 and 2008, possess more powerful and updated avionics, in-flight refuelling capability via retractable probes on the aircraft's starboard side, and an On-Board Oxygen-generating system (OBOGS) for longer duration missions. In-flight refuelling was tested via a specially equipped prototype (39‐4) used in successful trials with a Royal Air Force VC10 in 1998. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=87577 | 15,253 |
1,411,667 | The NTPS grew out of a successful series of introductory flight test courses taught for military test organizations in the United States and Canada. Using an instrumented De Havilland Dove (DH-104), introductory, two-week performance and flying qualities flight test courses were taught for Edwards AFB, California; Patuxent River NAS, Maryland; Eglin AFB, Florida; the Naval Postgraduate School, California; Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; and the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment, CFB Cold Lake, Canada. The success of these courses led to opportunities to teach broader content flight test courses abroad. The school was formally established as a not-for-profit educational institute in California in April 1981. The initial years of the school consisted of teaching introductory courses within the United States, mainly for military organizations, and teaching longer courses abroad (in Israel, Taiwan, Brazil, and South Africa) using customer aircraft. By 1986, the decision was made to construct a large hangar and classroom complex in Mojave, California. Over the ensuing years, more flight test training was done in Mojave with a growing fleet of aircraft, rather than at customer locations. Today, the school trains 10–30 students in year-long courses with about 200-300 students attending one of several short courses each year. In 2016, NTPS became the first test pilot school in the world to be certified as a Flight Test Authorised Training Organisation by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Today, NTPS trains military and civilian students from over 30 different countries around the world. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8055335 | 1,410,873 |
1,820,647 | In the late 1970s, telephone engineers were attempting to create technology with sufficient performance to enable digital touch-tone dialing. Existing digital signal processing solutions required over a hundred chips and consumed significant amounts of power. Intel responded to this potential market by introducing the Intel 2920, an integrated processor that, while it had both digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters, lacked additional features (such as a hardware multiplier) that would be found in later processors. Announcements for the first "real" DSPs, the NEC μPD7720 and the Bell Labs DSP-1 chip, occurred the following year at the 1980 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits conference. The μPD7720 first became available in 1981 and commercially available in late 1982 at a cost of US$600 each (approx. $ today). Beyond their initial use in telephony, these processors found applications in disk drive and graphics controllers, speech synthesis and modems. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2824676 | 1,819,610 |
904,974 | Autogas, also known as LPG or propane, has a different chemical composition. However, it is still a petroleum-based gas produced from refining petroleum oil and has several inherent advantages and disadvantages, as well as noninherent ones. The inherent advantage of autogas over CNG is that it requires far less compression (20% of CNG cost), is denser and easier to store as at this lower pressure it is a liquid at room temperature, and thus requires far cheaper tanks (consumer) and fuel compressors (provider) than CNG. As compared to LNG, it requires no chilling (and thus less energy) or problems associated with the extreme cold such as frostbite. Like NGVs, it also has advantages over gasoline and diesel in terms of cleaner emissions and less wear on engines than gasoline. A major drawback of LPG is its safety. The fuel is volatile and flammable, and the fumes are heavier than air, which causes them to collect in a low spot in the event of a leak, making it far more hazardous to use. More care is needed in handling. Besides this, LPG (40% from Crude Oil refining) has historically been more expensive than Natural Gas, even though the energy density per weight is higher. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1038887 | 904,498 |
1,259,812 | In 2009, "Marvel Heroes" #15-16 featured the return of the Fury. In #15, Captain Britain returned to Earth with a warning that the Fury was coming back: repeated simulations by a Panini equivalent of the Illuminati ran hundreds of combat simulations, finding that in each one the Fury would slaughter them. The Silver Surfer offered a solution: making a deal with Galactus to gain the reality-altering Ultimate Nullifier. In #16, the Surfer and Captain Britain successfully gained the weapon, as even Galactus himself won't stand a chance against the Fury. Back on Earth, the cybiote made its appearance in Scotland and began heading south. The next five pages saw the Fury slaughtering every super-team that attempted to stop it: MI-13's British heroes at Dumfries, the X-Men at Manchester, the Avengers and Hulk at Birmingham, the New Warriors, the Defenders, Alpha Flight at Northampton, and a supervillain army at a motorway (the last panel of this had Doctor Doom announcing "Enough! I am "Doom", and will destroy-" before he was shot in the face). Finally, the Fantastic Four and their allies fought the monster in central London and were wiped out. At this, the last few heroes and the survivors of the previous battles united under the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier for a last stand. However, Captain Britain and the Silver Surfer arrived in time, and Captain Britain (with the magical and psychic support of every other hero) fired the Nullifier at close range. The Fury was erased from existence, and reality was reset: all those killed lived again, and there was no memory of the Fury's rampage except for the Watcher's. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1363343 | 1,259,125 |
93,982 | Government incentives to increase adoption were first introduced in the late 2000s, including in the United States and the European Union, leading to a growing market for the vehicles in the 2010s. Increasing public interest and awareness and structural incentives, such as those being built into the green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to greatly increase the electric vehicle market. During the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns have reduced the amount of greenhouse gases from gasoline or diesel vehicles. The International Energy Agency said in 2021 that governments should do more to meet climate goals, including policies for heavy electric vehicles. Electric vehicle sales may increase from 2% of global share in 2016 to 30% by 2030. As of July 2022 global EV market size was $280 billion and it is expected to grow to $1 trillion by 2026. Much of this growth is expected in markets like North America, Europe and China; a 2020 literature review suggested that growth in use of electric 4-wheeled vehicles appears economically unlikely in developing economies, but that electric 2-wheeler growth is likely. There are more 2 and 3 wheel EVs than any other type. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=279350 | 93,941 |
39,954 | In the 1980s, the university received increased grants for research in the social and physical sciences. During the 1980s and 1990s, the university devoted substantial resources to renovating its massive hospital complex and improving the academic facilities on the North Campus. In its 2011 annual financial report, the university announced that it had dedicated $497 million per year in each of the prior 10 years to renovate buildings and infrastructure around the campus. In the early 2000s, Michigan faced declining state funding due to state budget shortfalls. In fact, the university did not receive direct state appropriations until 1867, and for most of its history, state support has been limited. James Duderstadt, Michigan president from 1988 to 1996, had argued for years that it was a misnomer to call schools like the University of Michigan "state universities." The state's annual contribution to the school's operating budget was less than 6%. "The state is our smallest minority shareholder," he said. In 2011 less than 5% of its support comes from state appropriations, a number continued to drop still further in the years ahead. Between the years 2000 and 2008, the university was engaged in a $2.5 billion capital raising campaign which, after an eight-year duration, raised $3.11 billion, at the time a record for a US public university. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31740 | 39,939 |
1,391,590 | The term 'hyperdiffusionism' seems to have been coined by the British archaeologist Glyn Daniel in his book "The Idea of Prehistory" (1962) with a somewhat derogatory intention. It was intended to represent extremes of diffusionism, a theme popular in early 20th century archaeology that itself has been subject to criticism. Smith believed that all megalithic phenomena, whether in Northwestern Europe, India, Japan or Mesoamerica, had originated in Ancient Egypt. "Small groups of people, moving mainly by sea, settled at certain places and there made rude imitations of the Egyptian monuments of the Pyramid Age." (Smith 1911, ix). Smith believed in a direct diffusion to Syria, Crete, East Africa, Southern Arabia and Sumer, and other areas were influenced by secondary diffusion. The Neolithic culture of Europe was derived from Egypt as well, according to Smith. He even interpreted a mummy from a Torres Strait island as definitely being indicative of an Egyptian influence. The concept of hyperdiffusionism is now referred to by more neutral terms (when referring to the Americas) such as Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=467534 | 1,390,819 |
1,668,824 | In 1933 Frederick William Hill and his 13 year old daughter Hazel had analysed data from gun firing trials and concluded that eight .303 machine guns would be needed to give sufficient firepower at the predicted high speeds of the new generation of fighters. Following a recommendation by Squadron Leader Ralph Sorley of the Operational Requirements section at the Air Ministry, in April 1935 the Spitfire's armament requirement was changed from two Vickers machine guns in each wing to four M1919 Browning machine guns. The outer wing section was too thin to fully enclose the additional guns, so small underside blister fairings would be added to production machines to make room for the mechanism. Meanwhile the PV-XII had changed its coolant from water to ethylene glycol, allowing the clumsy evaporative cooling system to be abandoned and replaced by a ducted radiator which had recently been developed by Frederick Meredith at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough and actually provided a small amount of jet thrust. By August of 1935 both changes had been incorporated into the design. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=57082298 | 1,667,884 |
1,430,337 | All of these examples are part of a larger theory of a brain–gut connection. This theory states that the vagus nerve provides a direct link between the brain and the gut so that emotions can affect stomach rhythms and vice versa. This idea originated in the mid-1800s when Alexis St. Martin, a man with a gunshot-induced fistula in his abdomen, experienced lower secretions of digestive juices and a slower stomach emptying when he was upset. In this case, the emotions St. Martin was feeling affected his physiological reaction, but the reverse can also be true. In a study with Crohn's disease patients where patients and unaffected controls watched happy, frightening, disgusting, and saddening films, patients with active Crohn's disease had more responsive EGG (a greater physiological response) and reported feeling more aroused when feeling the negative emotions of disgust or sadness. This leads researchers to believe that increased physiological activation can influence increased experience of emotions. Another study published in 1943 that studied the fistulated man Tom discovered that if "Tom was fearful or depressed his gastic activity decreased but when he was angry or hostile his gastric activity increased". This finding is contrasted by an EGG study by Ercolani et al. who had subjects perform either difficult or easy mental arithmetic or puzzles. They found that new tasks slowed down the myoelectrical activity of the stomach, suggesting that stress tends to impede gastric activity and that this can be picked up on an EGG. While there is still much research to be done on the brain-gut connection, research thus far has indeed shown that your stomach does indeed churn differently when you are emotionally aroused, and this could be the basis of the gut feeling that many people describe experiencing. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3055035 | 1,429,533 |
763,140 | At Pydna the contenders deployed on a relatively flat plain, and the Macedonians had augmented the infantry with a sizeable cavalry contingent. At the hour of decision, the enemy phalanx advanced in formidable array against the Roman line and made some initial progress. However, the ground it had to advance over was rough, and the powerful phalangial formation lost its tight cohesion. The Romans absorbed the initial shock and came on into the fray, where their more spacious formation and continuously applied pressure proved decisive in hand-to-hand combat on the rough ground. Shield and sword at close quarters on such terrain neutralized the long pike, and supplementary Macedonian weapons (lighter armour and a dagger-like short sword) made an indifferent showing against the skillful and aggressive assault of the heavy Roman infantrymen. The opposition also failed to deploy supporting forces effectively to help the phalanx at its time of dire need. Indeed, the Macedonian commander, Perseus, seeing the situation deteriorating, seems to have fled without even bringing his cavalry into the engagement. The affair was decided in less than two hours, with a comprehensive defeat for the Macedonians. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30855309 | 762,731 |
24,948 | On 1 December 2006, the Airbus board of directors approved the industrial launch of the A350-800, -900, and -1000 variants. The delayed launch decision was a result of delays to the Airbus A380 and discussions on how to fund development. EADS CEO Thomas Enders stated that the A350 programme was not a certainty, citing EADS/Airbus's stretched resources. However, it was decided programme costs are to be borne mainly from cash-flow. First delivery for the A350-900 was scheduled for mid-2013, with the -800 and -1000 following on 12 and 24 months later, respectively. New technical details of the A350 XWB were revealed at a press conference in December 2006. Chief operating officer, John Leahy indicated existing A350 contracts were being re-negotiated due to price increases compared to the original A350s contracted. On 4 January 2007, Pegasus Aviation Finance Company placed the first firm order for the A350 XWB with an order for two aircraft. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1006446 | 24,939 |
1,299,086 | A cosmic microwave background was predicted in 1948 by George Gamow and Ralph Alpher, and by Alpher and Robert Herman as due to the hot Big Bang model. Moreover, Alpher and Herman were able to estimate the temperature, but their results were not widely discussed in the community. Their prediction was rediscovered by Robert Dicke and Yakov Zel'dovich in the early 1960s with the first published recognition of the CMB radiation as a detectable phenomenon appeared in a brief paper by Soviet astrophysicists A. G. Doroshkevich and Igor Novikov, in the spring of 1964. In 1964, David Todd Wilkinson and Peter Roll, Dicke's colleagues at Princeton University, began constructing a Dicke radiometer to measure the cosmic microwave background. In 1965, Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson at the Crawford Hill location of Bell Telephone Laboratories in nearby Holmdel Township, New Jersey had built a Dicke radiometer that they intended to use for radio astronomy and satellite communication experiments. Their instrument had an excess 3.5 K antenna temperature which they could not account for. After receiving a telephone call from Crawford Hill, Dicke famously quipped: "Boys, we've been scooped." A meeting between the Princeton and Crawford Hill groups determined that the antenna temperature was indeed due to the microwave background. Penzias and Wilson received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=658074 | 1,298,372 |
1,713,349 | In 1956, Norman A. Phillips developed a mathematical model which could realistically depict monthly and seasonal patterns in the troposphere, which became the first successful climate model. Following Phillips's work, several groups began working to create general circulation models. The first general circulation climate model that combined both oceanic and atmospheric processes was developed in the late 1960s at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. By the early 1980s, the United States' National Center for Atmospheric Research had developed the Community Atmosphere Model; this model has been continuously refined into the 2000s. In 1986, efforts began to initialize and model soil and vegetation types, which led to more realistic forecasts. For example, the Center for Ocean-Land Atmosphere Studies (COLA) model showed a warm temperature bias of 2–4 °C (4–7 °F) and a low precipitation bias due to incorrect parameterization of crop and vegetation type across the central United States. Coupled ocean-atmosphere climate models such as the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research's HadCM3 model are currently being used as inputs for climate change studies. The importance of gravity waves was neglected within these models until the mid-1980s. Now, gravity waves are required within global climate models in order to properly simulate regional and global scale circulations, though their broad spectrum makes their incorporation complicated. The Climate System Model (CSM) was developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in January 1994. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30890995 | 1,712,383 |
127,368 | The Dornier 228 has been promoted in various capacities, including as a commuter aircraft, a military transporter, cargo hauler, or as a special missions aircraft. Special missions include maritime surveillance, border patrol, medevac, search and rescue, paradrop and environmental research missions, in which capacity the type has proven useful due to a ten-hour flight endurance, a wide operating range, low operational cost, and varied equipment range. Special equipment available to be installed include a 360-degree surveillance radar, side-looking airborne radar, forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor, search light, operator station, real-time datalink, enlarged fuel tanks, satellite uplink, stretches, air-openable roller door, and infrared/ultraviolet sensors. In addition to a 19-seat commuter configuration for airlines, a VIP cabin configuration is also offered; the cabin can also be customized as per each client's specifications. The Dornier 228 is the only aircraft of its class to be fitted with air conditioning as standard. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1244920 | 127,316 |
1,738 | After taking power and distancing himself from the Vietnamese, pro-China Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot killed 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians in the killing fields, roughly a quarter of the Cambodian population (an event commonly labelled the Cambodian genocide). Martin Shaw described these atrocities as "the purest genocide of the Cold War era." Backed by the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, an organization of Khmer pro-Soviet Communists and Khmer Rouge defectors led by Heng Samrin, Vietnam invaded Cambodia on 22 December 1978. The invasion succeeded in deposing Pol Pot, but the new state would struggle to gain international recognition beyond the Soviet Bloc sphere. Despite the previous international outcry at the Pol Pot regime's gross human rights violations, representatives of the Khmer Rouge were allowed to be seated in the UN General Assembly, with strong support from China, Western powers, and the member countries of ASEAN. Cambodia would become bogged down in a guerrilla war led from refugee camps located on the border with Thailand. Following the destruction of the Khmer Rouge, the national reconstruction of Cambodia would be severely hampered, and Vietnam would suffer a punitive Chinese attack. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=325329 | 1,738 |
964,232 | As a part of the embodied cognition theory, proponents suggest that an organism's sensory and the motor systems are dynamically integrated. This idea is known as sensorimotor coupling which allows sensory information to be efficiently used during action. Similarly, the concept of sensorimotor contingencies (SMCs) states that the quality of perception is determined by the knowledge of how sensory information changes when one acts in the world. As an example, to look underneath an object, one has to bend down, shift one's head, and change the gaze direction. Proponents of the SMCs theory argue that every stimulus modality / sensory modality such as light, sound pressure, etc. follow specific rules (i.e. sensorimotor contingencies) that govern those changes of sensory information. Consequentially, since those rules differ between modalities, also the qualitative experience of them differs. There are multiple examples that highlight the distinction between SMCs of different modalities. An instance of an SMC distinct for the visual percept is the expansion of the flow pattern on the retina when the body moves forward and the analogous contraction when the body moves backward. In contrast, auditory SMCs are affected by head rotations which change the temporal asynchrony of a received signal between the right and the left ear. This movement mainly affects the amplitude and not the frequency of the sensory input. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33034640 | 963,723 |
2,046,446 | The visit to West Bromwich Albion in the first round of the Mayor of Birmingham's Charity Cup gave the 2,000 spectators more goals than they might have expected. Small Heath led 3–1 at the interval, but the home side brought the scores level after 90 minutes, and scored three times more during extra time to win the tie 7–4. Back in the League, Small Heath secured a "deserved" victory at Loughborough by two Billy Walton goals to nil. The highlight of the first ten minutes was the goalkeeping of Loughborough's Godfrey Beardsley, who "repulsed shot after shot", yet Walton's two scoring shots were "weak, and the second was disputed". The home side lost Arthur Shaw through injury after only a few minutes. The win completed a sequence of nine away wins in the league, begun in January, which () remains a club record. Small Heath finished September with a fourth consecutive League win. Hare scored twice in the first half, either side of Tom Leigh's goal for Burton Swifts, but despite "press[ing] incessantly" in the second half, were unable to increase their lead. The "Owl" commented favourably on a positive start to the season, the form of Charlie Hare and the ability of full-back Arthur Archer, but warned they needed to beat the likes of Manchester City and Burnley before starting to think about promotion. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34698933 | 2,045,265 |
1,970,937 | As the final began, the runner with the fastest personal best, =#3 all time Nigel Amos (Botswana) ran a fast turn and was attempting to take the tangent from the break line in his lane 5, but Brandon McBride (Canada), ran a faster turn and cut more sharply from lane 7, effectively interrupting Amos from taking control of the early pace. Looking for running room Amos also cut in, tangling elbows with Kipyegon Bett (Kenya), then bouncing to the side, getting caught also behind Thiago André (Brazil). McBride held the lead with André in his shadow. The first time down the home stretch, Amos moved outside to get around André into second place. McBride led through a moderate 50.76 first lap. Through the next turn, Bett was looking to get past Amos, finally also running wide on the backstretch, getting past McBride. From the back of the pack, Pierre-Ambroise Bosse (France) had avoided the battle so far. He went wider on the backstretch, running in lane 3 past the field, including the battling leaders, taking the lead unencumbered as they entered the final turn. Through the final turn, the battle continued behind him, Amos and Bett exchanging elbows again. From near the back of the back Adam Kszczot (Poland) began his kick, with Kyle Langford (GBR) in his wake, passing people. By the time he reached the final straightaway, Bosse had a 3 metre lead on Bett, with Amos another metre back. Bett and Amos were unable to gain on Bosse, but in lane 2, Kszczot and Langford were, passing people including Mohammed Aman (Ethiopia), Amos and 10 metres before the finish, Kszczot passed Bett to capture silver. Bett barely held off a fast closing Langford for bronze. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54711896 | 1,969,803 |
1,914,142 | The formation of the hopene skeleton is one of the most complex single-step reactions in biochemistry. In a single step, 13 covalent bonds are broken or formed, 9 chiral centers are established, and 5 rings are produced. Squalene–hopene cyclase catalyses the conversion of the acyclic molecule of squalene into the pentacyclic triterpenes of hopene and hopanol. These products appear in the ratio 5:1. Hopene synthesis begins with binding squalene in an all pre-chair conformation and is followed by the formation of five C-C bonds. These sequential ring-forming reaction steps are initiated by an electrophilic attack of an acidic proton on one of the two terminal double bonds. The polycyclic formation is completed when a proton is eliminated from the alternative terminal methyl group of squalene via acceptance by a water molecule. This base is known as the "front water". Other water molecules work to enhance polarization ("back waters") and construct hydrogen bonds between seven residues—T41, E45, E93, R127, Q262, W133 and Y267. Front water also plays a role in determining the end product. If it stores the proton generated from either Methyl group 29 or 30 to form hopene. However, hopanol is produced in lesser quantities if instead of accepting the proton, water contributes a hydroxyl to the C-22 cation of the A-ring. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39563303 | 1,913,043 |
1,132,016 | The ESEM has appeared under different manufacturing brand names. The term ESEM is a generic name first publicly introduced in 1980 and afterwards unceasingly used in all publications by Danilatos and almost all users of all ESEM type instruments. The ELECTROSCAN ESEM trademark was obtained intermittently until 1999, when it was allowed to lapse. The word “environmental” was originally introduced in continuation to the prior (historical) use of “environmental” cells in transmission microscopy, although the word “atmospheric” has also been used to refer to an ESEM at one atmosphere pressure (ASEM) but not with any commercial instruments. Other competing manufacturers have used the terms "Natural SEM" (Hitachi), “Wet-SEM” (ISI), “Bio-SEM” (short-lived, AMRAY), “VP-SEM” (variable-pressure SEM; LEO/Zeiss-SMT), “LVSEM” (low-vacuum SEM, often also denoting low-voltage SEM; JEOL), all of which seem to be transient in time according to prevailing manufacturing schedules. Until recently, all these names referred to instruments operating up to about 100 Pa and with BSE detectors only. Lately, the Zeiss-SMT VP-SEM has been extended to higher pressure together with a gaseous ionization or gaseous scintillation as the SE mechanism for image formation. Therefore, it is improper to identify the term ESEM with one only brand of commercial instrument in juxtaposition to other competing commercial (or laboratory) brands with different names, as some confusion may arise from past use of trademarks. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9778156 | 1,131,424 |
1,778,517 | Underwater computer vision is a subfield of computer vision. In recent years, with the development of underwater vehicles ( ROV, AUV, gliders), the need to be able to record and process huge amounts of information has become increasingly important. Applications range from inspection of underwater structures for the offshore industry to the identification and counting of fishes for biological research. However, no matter how big the impact of this technology can be to industry and research, it still is in a very early stage of development compared to traditional computer vision. One reason for this is that, the moment the camera goes into the water, a whole new set of challenges appear. On one hand, cameras have to be made waterproof, marine corrosion deteriorates materials quickly and access and modifications to experimental setups are costly, both in time and resources. On the other hand, the physical properties of the water make light behave differently, changing the appearance of a same object with variations of depth, organic material, currents, temperature etc. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44722153 | 1,777,515 |
261,357 | Penney worked on means to assess the effects of a nuclear explosion, and wrote a paper on what height the bombs should be detonated at for maximum effect in attacks on Germany and Japan. He served as a member of the target committee established by Groves to select Japanese cities for atomic bombing, and on Tinian with Project Alberta as a special consultant. Because the Quebec Agreement specified that nuclear weapons would not be used against another country without mutual consent, British authorisation was required for their use. On 4 July 1945, Field Marshal Henry Maitland Wilson agreed that the use of nuclear weapons against Japan would be recorded as a decision of the Combined Policy Committee. Along with Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, sent by Wilson as a British representative, Penney watched the bombing of Nagasaki from the observation plane "Big Stink". He also formed part of the Manhattan Project's post-war scientific mission to Hiroshima and Nagasaki that assessed the extent of the damage caused by the bombs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2095669 | 261,218 |
1,881,404 | While temperature may play a key role in fungal and plant growth, there is equally as much dependence on the amount of CO that is absorbed. The amount of CO within the soil is different from the amount that is in the air; the presence of this CO is a vital part of many plant cycles (such as photosynthesis) and due to the properties of plant-fungus symbiosis taking place in roots, mycorrhizae are affected as well. When plants are exposed to higher levels of CO, they tend to take advantage of it and grow faster. This also increases the allocation of carbon to the plant's roots rather than the plant's shoots, which is beneficial to the symbiotic mycorrhizae. There is an increase in the amount of space that the roots can occupy and thus the cycle of trade between the plant and the fungi increases, showing potential for further growth and taking advantage of the available resources until the feedback becomes neutral. The allocated CO that is provided to the mycorrhizae also allows them to grow at an increased rate at higher levels, meaning the hyphae of the fungi will also expand, however, the direct benefits seem to cease there in accordance to the mycorrhizae, alone. "Despite significant effects on root carbohydrate levels, there were generally no significant effects on mycorrhizal colonization." This means that while the plant may grow larger, the mycorrhizae will grow proportionally larger with the growth of the plant. In other words, the mycorrhizae's growth is caused by the growth of the plant; the opposite cannot be proven true even though these environmental factors affect both the mycorrhizae and the plant. CO should not be thought of as entirely beneficial: its main contribution is to photosynthetic processes but the plant relies on it while the essential sugars that the mycorrhizae require can only be provided by the plant; they cannot be extracted directly from the soils. The effects CO has on the environment are detrimental in the long run as it is a vital contributor to the problem of greenhouse gases and loss of territory in which plants and their respective mycorrhizae grow. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59393212 | 1,880,323 |
40,197 | Catheter ablation (CA) is a procedure performed by an electrophysiologist, a cardiologist who specializes in heart rhythm problems, to restore the heart's normal rhythm by destroying, or electrically isolating, specific parts of the atria. A group of cardiologists led by Dr Haïssaguerre from noted in 1998 that the pulmonary veins are an important source of ectopic beats, initiating frequent paroxysms of atrial fibrillation, with these foci responding to treatment with radio-frequency ablation. Most commonly, CA electrically isolates the left atrium from the pulmonary veins, where most of the abnormal electrical activity promoting atrial fibrillation originates. CA is a form of rhythm control that restores normal sinus rhythm and reduces AF-associated symptoms more reliably than antiarrhythmic medications. Electrophysiologists generally use two forms of catheter ablation—radiofrequency ablation, or cryoablation. In young people with little-to-no structural heart disease where rhythm control is desired and cannot be maintained by medication or cardioversion, radiofrequency catheter ablation or cryoablation may be attempted and may be preferred over several years of medical therapy. Although radiofrequency ablation has become an accepted intervention in selected younger people and may be more effective than medication at improving symptoms and quality of life, there is no evidence that ablation reduces all-cause mortality, stroke, or heart failure. Some evidence indicates CA may be particularly helpful for people with AF who also have heart failure. AF may recur in people who have undergone CA and nearly half of people who undergo it will require a repeat procedure to achieve long-term control of their AF. In general, CA is more successful at preventing AF recurrence if AF is paroxysmal as opposed to persistent . As CA does not reduce the risk of stroke, many are advised to continue their anticoagulation. Possible complications include common, minor complications such as the formation of a collection of blood at the site where the catheter goes into the vein (access site hematoma), but also more dangerous complications including bleeding around the heart (cardiac tamponade), stroke, damage to the esophagus (atrio-esophageal fistula), or even death. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20869694 | 40,182 |
1,468,598 | The first launch attempt was delayed by 24 hours due to weather concerns, including multiple weather violations in NASA's launch rules beginning over 2 hours before the scheduled launch. During the second attempt on Wednesday morning, a problem with a LH2 fill-and-drain fuel valve inside "Discovery"s aft compartment led to another scrubbing. The problem arose when sensors did not detect the closure of the valve when commanded to do so. The issue was thought to be with the sensors rather than the valve itself. After inerting the orbiter's tank, which involved draining it, tests were conducted on the valves. Despite the valves working normally, another delay was called for to have more confidence in the system, and to give the console operators who performed the test some rest. The launch team evaluated the issue, passing on a possible launch window on August 27, 2009, at 01:10 EDT. The launch was delayed until 23:59 EDT, August 28, 2009, to allow the engineers to be fully satisfied with the vehicle. Later the mission was cleared for launch which involved a flight rule waiver for cycling the valve and a discussion to analyze the test failure of an Ares-1 booster that was similar to the SRBs used for the mission. NASA feared another delay when storms formed near the Kennedy Space Center on August 28, 2009, but the weather cleared in time for a successful launch of "Discovery" at 23:59 EDT. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6002600 | 1,467,774 |
373,740 | During the 1970s, Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab AB became increasingly interested in the civil aircraft market. In 1974, the company decided to proceed with developing its first major civilian aircraft, having previously focused almost entirely upon military aircraft. During the late 1970s, internal studies had determined that a short-haul airliner should be optimised to seat around 30 passengers. Likewise, it was decided to make use of turboprop propulsion, which was slower but more economical than turbofan engines, and to optimise the airliner to take advantage of this type of powerplant; this decision may have been influenced by high oil prices during that decade, such as the 1973 oil crisis. According to author Gunnar Eliasson, the selection of a turboprop engine made the type less attractive to airlines than jet-powered competitors, however recognised that the General Electric CT7-5A2 engine picked was quite competitive with the jet engines of that era. As conceived, the airliner was to match the performance of jets within its short-haul role. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=469211 | 373,545 |
1,971,197 | "The medal which, in accordance with the usual rule has been devoted to mathematics and physics, has this year been awarded to Colonel A. Clarke for his comparison of standards of length, and determination of the figure of the earth. Col. Clarke was for some 25 years the scientific and mathematical adviser for the Ordnance Survey, and while acting in that capacity he became known to the whole scientific world as possessing unique knowledge and power in dealing with the complex questions which arise in the science of geodesy. His laborious comparison of the standards of length, carried out under General Sir Henry James, R.E., are universally regarded as models of scientific precision. His determination of the ellipticity and dimensions of the earth from the great arcs of meridian and longitude involved a very high mathematical ability and an enormous amount of labour. The conclusion at which he arrived removed an apparent discrepancy between the results of pendulum experiments and those derived from geodesy, and is generally accepted as the best approximation hitherto attained as to the figure of the earth." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6420474 | 1,970,063 |
405,339 | Four years later, in "Wings of Liberty", Kerrigan and the Zerg vanish from the Koprulu Sector, allowing the Protoss to once again take on a passive role in the galaxy. Meanwhile, Raynor forms a revolutionary group named Raynor's Raiders in order to overthrow Mengsk. On Mar Sara, Raynor liberates the local population from Dominion control and also discovers a component of a mysterious Xel'Naga artifact. The Zerg reappear and overrun Mar Sara, forcing Raynor to arrange an evacuation to his battlecruiser, the "Hyperion". The Raiders embark on a series of missions to undermine Mengsk, stop frequent Zerg infestations on Terran worlds, gather psychic individuals for military assets, and find the remaining pieces of the Xel'Naga artifact, which they sell to the enigmatic Moebius Foundation in order to fund their revolution. Soon after, Zeratul delivers a psychic crystal that allows Raynor to share visions involving an ominous prophecy where Zerg-Protoss hybrids and an enslaved Zerg swarm wipe out the Terrans and the Protoss. The vision reveals that only Kerrigan has the power to prevent the eradication of all life in the sector and beyond. After collecting more artifact pieces, the Raiders forge an alliance with Valerian Mengsk, Arcturus' son, who is their secret benefactor from Moebius Foundation. After recovering the final artifact piece, Valerian and Raynor work together to invade the Zerg world of Char and use the artifact to restore Kerrigan's humanity, thus weakening the Zerg at the cost of much of the Dominion fleet. An agent of Arcturus makes an attempt on Kerrigan's life, and Raynor defends her and takes her in for medical examination. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14271726 | 405,139 |
940,776 | A study done by Rijkswaterstaat in 1937 showed that the sea defenses in the southwest river delta were inadequate to withstand a major storm surge. The proposed solution was to dam all the river mouths and sea inlets thereby shortening the coast. However, because of the scale of this project and the intervention of the Second World War its construction was delayed and the first works were only completed in 1950. The North Sea flood of 1953 gave a major impulse to speed up the project. In the following years a number of dams were built to close off the estuary mouths. In 1976, under pressures from environmental groups and the fishing industry, it was decided not to close off the Oosterschelde estuary by a solid dam but instead to build the Oosterscheldekering, a storm surge barrier which is only closed during storms. It is the most well-known (and most expensive) dam of the project. A second major hurdle for the works was in the Rijnmond area. A storm surge through the Nieuwe Waterweg would threaten about 1.5 million people around Rotterdam. However, closing off this river mouth would be very detrimental for the Dutch economy, as the Port of Rotterdam—one of the biggest sea ports in the world—uses this river mouth. Eventually, the Maeslantkering was built in 1997, keeping economical factors in mind: the Maeslantkering is a set of two swinging doors that can shut off the river mouth when necessary, but which are usually open. The Maeslantkering is forecast to close about once per decade. Up until January 2012, it has closed only once, in 2007. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4865141 | 940,275 |
1,313,433 | Fluid–structure interactions also play a major role in appropriate modeling of blood flow. Blood vessels act as compliant tubes that change size dynamically when there are changes to blood pressure and velocity of flow. Failure to take into account this property of blood vessels can lead to a significant overestimation of resulting wall shear stress (WSS). This effect is especially imperative to take into account when analyzing aneurysms. It has become common practice to use computational fluid dynamics to analyze patient specific models. The neck of an aneurysm is the most susceptible to changes in to WSS. If the aneurysmal wall becomes weak enough, it becomes at risk of rupturing when WSS becomes too high. FSI models contain an overall lower WSS compared to non-compliant models. This is significant because incorrect modeling of aneurysms could lead to doctors deciding to perform invasive surgery on patients who were not at a high risk of rupture. While FSI offers better analysis, it comes at a cost of highly increased computational time. Non-compliant models have a computational time of a few hours, while FSI models could take up to 7 days to finish running. This leads to FSI models to be most useful for preventative measures for aneurysms caught early, but unusable for emergency situations where the aneurysm may have already ruptured. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6061729 | 1,312,713 |
1,643,609 | Systemin is a plant peptide hormone involved in the wound response in the family Solanaceae. It was the first plant hormone that was proven to be a peptide having been isolated from tomato leaves in 1991 by a group led by Clarence A. Ryan. Since then, other peptides with similar functions have been identified in tomato and outside of the Solanaceae. Hydroxyproline-rich glycopeptides were found in tobacco in 2001 and AtPeps (Arabidopsis thaliana Plant Elicitor Peptides) were found in "Arabidopsis thaliana" in 2006. Their precursors are found both in the cytoplasm and cell walls of plant cells, upon insect damage, the precursors are processed to produce one or more mature peptides. The receptor for systemin was first thought to be the same as the brassinolide receptor but this is now uncertain. The signal transduction processes that occur after the peptides bind are similar to the cytokine-mediated inflammatory immune response in animals. Early experiments showed that systemin travelled around the plant after insects had damaged the plant, activating systemic acquired resistance, now it is thought that it increases the production of jasmonic acid causing the same result. The main function of systemins is to coordinate defensive responses against insect herbivores but they also affect plant development. Systemin induces the production of protease inhibitors which protect against insect herbivores, other peptides activate defensins and modify root growth. They have also been shown to affect plants' responses to salt stress and UV radiation. AtPEPs have been shown to affect resistance against oomycetes and may allow "A. thaliana" to distinguish between different pathogens. In "Nicotiana attenuata", some of the peptides have stopped being involved in defensive roles and instead affect flower morphology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5326585 | 1,642,682 |
1,396,322 | Bagian became a NASA astronaut in July 1980. He took part in both the planning and provision of emergency medical and rescue support for the first six Shuttle flights. He served as the Astronaut Office coordinator for Space Shuttle payload software and crew equipment, as well as supporting the development of a variety of payloads and participating in the verification of Space Shuttle flight software. In 1986, Bagian served as an investigator for the 51-L accident board. He was responsible for the development program and implementation of the pressure suit used for crew escape and various other crew survival equipment to be used on future Shuttle missions, and is in charge of Shuttle search and rescue planning and implementation for the Astronaut Office. Bagian was a member of the NASA Headquarters Research Animal Holding Facility Review Board. He has authored numerous scientific papers in the fields of human factors, environmental and aerospace medicine. A veteran of two space flights (STS-29 in 1989 and STS-40 in 1991), Bagian has logged over 337 hours in space. In 2003 Bagian served as the Chief Flight Surgeon and Medical Consultant for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and currently serve as a member of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=596595 | 1,395,551 |
88,012 | Baley furthermore proposes that the Solarians may one day use robots for military purposes. If a spacecraft was built with a positronic brain and carried neither humans nor the life-support systems to sustain them, then the ship's robotic intelligence could naturally assume that all other spacecraft were robotic beings. Such a ship could operate more responsively and flexibly than one crewed by humans, could be armed more heavily and its robotic brain equipped to slaughter humans of whose existence it is totally ignorant. This possibility is referenced in "Foundation and Earth" where it is discovered that the Solarians possess a strong police force of unspecified size that has been programmed to identify only the Solarian race as human. (The novel takes place thousands of years after The Naked Sun, and the Solarians have long since modified themselves from normal humans to hermaphroditic telepaths with extended brains and specialized organs) Similarly, in "Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn" Bigman attempts to speak with a Sirian robot about possible damage to the Solar System population from its actions, but it appears unaware of the data and programmed to ignore attempts to teach it about the matter. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60136 | 87,977 |
783,145 | The earliest possible employment of volley fire for firearms occurred in late 14th century China during a military conflict between Ming and Mong Mao forces. Volley fire was also possibly implemented with firearms in 1414 during the Yongle Emperor's campaigns against the Mongols, and possibly again in another expedition in 1422. However, the language used in these sources is unclear as to whether or not "repeating" fire was part of the technique implemented. For example, during the 1388 anti-insurrection war waged against the Mong Mao by the Ming general Mu Ying, the Ming troops equipped with guns and fire arrows were arrayed in three lines. The general Mu Ying explained this was so that "when the elephants advance, the front line of guns and arrows will shoot all at once. If they do not retreat, the next line will continue this. If they still do not retreat, then the third line will continue this." When the armored war elephants broke into a run, charging the Ming lines, the Ming forces stood their ground, "shooting arrows and stones, the noise shaking the mountains and vallies. The elephants shook with fear and ran." According to the "Ming Shilu", half the elephants were killed while 37 were captured, and of the 100,000 strong insurrection force, at least 30,000 were killed, and 10,000 were captured. Andrade and other historians have interpreted this passage as evidence of volley fire, however he admits that it is ambiguous as to whether or not the Ming lines practiced repeated fire and reloading, so at best it can only be considered a limited form of volley fire. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33076634 | 782,726 |
592,778 | In February 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, using statistical models that considered data on the number of deaths and recoveries inside China, travellers outside China and in those affected that had returned home, Ferguson, Azra Ghani and their team estimated that detected cases of COVID-19 had significantly underestimated the actual spread of the disease in China. That month he stated that only 10% of cases were being detected in China. At the same time, it was noted that the number of available testing kits had come into question, and Ferguson calculated that only one in three cases coming into the UK was being detected. He stated "that approximately two-thirds of cases in travellers from China have not yet been detected. It is highly likely that some of these undetected cases will have started chains of transmission within the countries they entered." He said that the new coronavirus could affect up to 60% of the UK's population, in the worst-case scenario, and "suggest(ed) that the impact of the unfolding epidemic may be comparable to the major influenza pandemics of the twentieth century." His team's publication in mid-March of the projections that the UK could face hundreds of thousands of deaths from COVID-19 without strict social distancing measures, gained widespread media attention. In late March, he calculated that with "strict social distancing, testing and isolation of infected cases", deaths in the UK could fall to less than 20,000. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63073445 | 592,474 |
953,760 | Once dubbed the "Methuselah Star" by the popular press due to its age, if the assumptions of stellar evolution are correct in the report, the star must have formed soon after the Big Bang and is one of the oldest stars known as of 2021. The search for such very iron-poor stars has shown they are almost all anomalies in globular clusters and the Galactic Halo. This accords with a narrative that they are rare survivors of their generation. If so, the apparent visual data of the oldest of these enables us to longstop-date the reionization (first star formation) phase of the Universe independently of theories and evidence of the first few million years after the Big Bang. Most stars from Population II and Population III are no longer observable. Theories exist allowing for an older age of the universe than conventionally accepted, which can still accommodate the observed redshift of early objects and earlier radiation. Some depart from the conventional big-bang/inflation model, such as the steady-state and cyclic models. To date no accurate, greater-age evidence from a cosmic object has been found that calls into question the Planck satellite results. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38621598 | 953,255 |
169,789 | New theory has recognized the layering and potential internal contradictions within all practices that construct masculinities. This is a departure from a unitary masculinity and focus on compromised formations between contradictory desires or emotions. Masculinities are configurations of practice that are constructed, unfold, and change through time. One area of focus may represent that of Western fathers given the gender division of labour in child care, the "long hours culture" of professions and management, and the preoccupation of rich fathers with managing their wealth. While these practices may adhere to conventional Western ideas of hegemonic masculinity, this may not necessarily translate into a satisfying life experience. As gender relations evolve and women's movements grow stronger, the dynamics of masculinities may see a complete abolition of power differentials and a more equitable relationship between men and women and between men and other men. This positive hegemony remains a key strategy for contemporary efforts at reforming gender relations. Groes-Green has argued that Connell's theory of masculinities risks excluding the possibility of more gender equitable or "philogynous" forms of masculinity such as those he has identified in Mozambique. He urges social researchers to begin developing theories and concepts that can improve an understanding of how more positive, alternative and less dominant masculinities may develop even if these are always embedded in local gender power relations. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9928314 | 169,699 |
341,288 | In the summer of 1942, the paleontologist Charles L. Camp led a field party from the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) in search of fossil vertebrates in Navajo County in northern Arizona. Word of this was spread among the Native Americans there, and the Navajo Jesse Williams brought three members of the expedition to some fossil bones he had discovered in 1940. The area was part of the Kayenta Formation, about north of Cameron near Tuba City in the Navajo Indian Reservation. Three dinosaur skeletons were found in purplish shale, arranged in a triangle, about long at one side. The first was nearly complete, lacking only the front of the skull, parts of the pelvis, and some vertebrae. The second was very eroded, included the front of the skull, lower jaws, some vertebrae, limb bones, and an articulated hand. The third was so eroded that it consisted only of vertebral fragments. The first good skeleton was encased in a block of plaster after 10 days of work and loaded onto a truck, the second skeleton was easily collected, as it was almost entirely weathered out of the ground, but the third skeleton was almost gone. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=444541 | 341,107 |
345,856 | The March 2010 announcement said that "Portal 2" would be released in late 2010. In August 2010, Valve postponed the release to February 2011, with a Steam release date of February 9, to allow it to complete changes to the game's dialogue, to fill and connect about sixty test chambers, and to finish refinements to the gel gameplay mechanic. Valve announced a further delay in November 2010 and gave a release dates through retail channels in the week of April 18, 2011: April 20 in North America and April 22 in Europe and Australia. Wolpaw stated that this eight-week delay was used to expand the game's content before reaching an internal milestone called a "content lock", after which no further content could be added. The remaining development work involved debugging. Newell allowed the delay considering the added benefits of the new content, because he thought the company would not lose any commercial opportunities because of it. On February 18, 2011, Newell confirmed that Valve had completed the development work on "Portal 2" and that they were "waiting for final approvals and to get the discs manufactured". "Portal 2" was the first Valve product simultaneously released for Windows and Mac OS X computers through the Steam platform. Retail copies for all platforms were distributed by Electronic Arts. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15888290 | 345,675 |
12,925 | In the afternoon of October 9, Syrian command committed the Republican Guard independent 70th Armored Brigade, equipped with T-62's and BMP-1s. To hold the gap, 7th AB could by now muster only some two dozen tanks, elements from the 77th, 74th, 82nd and 71st Tank Battalion. Israeli command had directed all reserves to the threatened southern sector, trusting that the northern sector was secure. Fighting in daylight proved to be advantageous to the Syrians: the better armored T-62's were hard to destroy at long range and their high-velocity 115 mm smoothbore guns were quite accurate at medium ranges, despite the lack of a rangefinder. Taking losses and hit by an intense artillery barrage, the Israeli Centurions withdrew from their tank ramps. The situation was restored by an ad hoc force of thirteen tanks formed by Lt. Col. Yossi Ben-Hanan from repaired vehicles and stray crews. The Syrians abandoned their last breakthrough attempt, having lost since October 6 some 260 tanks in the Quneitra Gap. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34276 | 12,920 |
2,146,029 | In May 1829, Frémont entered Charleston College, where he studied, and taught at intervals in the countryside. Frémont, however, was expelled from the college for irregular attendance in 1831. Although Frémont did not graduate, he had been grounded in mathematics and natural sciences. After his college dismissal, eminent South Carolina politician Joel R. Poinsett came to Frémont's aid, who secured him an appointment as a teacher of mathematics aboard the sloop USS "Natchez". Aided by Poinsett, Frémont was appointed to the U.S. Topographical Corps, surveying a route for the Charleston, Louisville, and Cincinnati railroad. When Poinsett became Secretary of War, he arranged for Frémont to assist notable French explorer and scientist Joseph Nicollet in exploring the lands between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. In July 1838, Frémont was appointed second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, accompanying Nicollet on two successive expeditions, ending in 1839. Frémont gained valuable wilderness experience under Nicollet becoming a first rate topographer, trained in describing fauna, flora, soil, water resources, astronomy, and geological observation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54177870 | 2,144,798 |
270,655 | Color photography was attempted beginning in the 1840s. Early experiments were directed at finding a "chameleon substance" which would assume the color of the light falling on it. Some encouraging early results, typically obtained by projecting a solar spectrum directly onto the sensitive surface, seemed to promise eventual success, but the comparatively dim image formed in a camera required exposures lasting for hours or even days. The quality and range of the color was sometimes severely limited mainly to primary colors, as in the chemically complicated "Hillotype" process invented by American daguerreotypist Levi Hill around 1850. Other experimenters, such as Edmond Becquerel, achieved better results but could find no way to prevent the colors from quickly fading when the images were exposed to light for viewing. Over the following several decades, renewed experiments along these lines periodically raised hopes and then dashed them, yielding nothing of practical value. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=444758 | 270,508 |
769,387 | In the early 1900s, Christian Bohr was a professor at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, already well known for his work in the field of respiratory physiology. He had spent the last two decades studying the solubility of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other gases in various liquids, and had conducted extensive research on haemoglobin and its affinity for oxygen. In 1903, he began working closely with Karl Hasselbalch and August Krogh, two of his associates at the university, in an attempt to experimentally replicate the work of Gustav von Hüfner, using whole blood instead of haemoglobin solution. Hüfner had suggested that the oxygen-haemoglobin binding curve was hyperbolic in shape, but after extensive experimentation, the Copenhagen group determined that the curve was in fact sigmoidal. Furthermore, in the process of plotting out numerous dissociation curves, it soon became apparent that high partial pressures of carbon dioxide caused the curves to shift to the right. Further experimentation while varying the CO concentration quickly provided conclusive evidence, confirming the existence of what would soon become known as the Bohr effect. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=618291 | 768,975 |
962,217 | Miranda explained that the song is an homage to his sister, Luz Miranda-Crespo: "That song is my love letter and apology to my sister. I watched my sister deal with the pressure of being the oldest and carrying burdens I never had to carry [...] I put all of that angst and all of those moments into Luisa". "Encanto" director Byron Howard said Miranda's lyrics added more depth to Luisa: "She's a fun, comedic, and broad character but to have this grounded soul really changed the way we saw her as she moved through the script". Jared Bush, one of the film's directors, explained why it was important for them to explore the differences in modern-day communities, particularly with a unique character such as Luisa: "One of the benefits of putting a giant extended family on screen was that there are so many different types of people, certainly in this large family from Colombia, where there's naturally this amazing mix between European and Indigenous and African [communities] coming in together as one family". Darrow herself deemed the song an example of how music is an emotional escape: "When the struggle gets real, we turn the music louder. Even though there's something going on in the inside, it's all good on the outside and you have a good time…It's a journey that I think Disney music does [well]". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69624118 | 961,708 |
858,417 | Hyder Ali, prince of Mysore, developed war rockets with an important change: the use of metal cylinders to contain the combustion powder. Although the hammered soft iron he used was crude, the bursting strength of the container of black powder was much higher than the earlier paper construction. Thus a greater internal pressure was possible, with a resultant greater thrust of the propulsive jet. The rocket body was lashed with leather thongs to a long bamboo stick. Range was perhaps up to three-quarters of a mile (more than a kilometre). Although individually these rockets were not accurate, dispersion error became less important when large numbers were fired rapidly in mass attacks. They were particularly effective against cavalry and were hurled into the air, after lighting, or skimmed along the hard dry ground. Hyder Ali's son, Tipu Sultan, continued to develop and expand the use of rocket weapons, reportedly increasing the number of rocket troops from 1,200 to a corps of 5,000. In battles at Seringapatam in 1792 and 1799 these rockets were used with considerable effect against the British. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1770300 | 857,959 |
1,066,543 | Much of the work carried out by palaeontologists studying evolutionary radiations has been using marine invertebrate fossils simply because these tend to be much more numerous and easy to collect in quantity than large land vertebrates such as mammals or dinosaurs. Brachiopods, for example, underwent major bursts of evolutionary radiation in the Early Cambrian, Early Ordovician, to a lesser degree throughout the Silurian and Devonian, and then again during the Carboniferous and earliest Permian. During these periods, different species of brachiopods independently assumed a similar morphology, and presumably mode of life, to species that had lived millions of years before. This phenomenon, known as homeomorphy, is explained by convergent evolution: when subjected to similar selective pressures, organisms will often evolve similar adaptations. Further examples of rapid evolutionary radiation can be observed among ammonites, which suffered a series of extinctions from which they repeatedly re-diversified; and trilobites which, during the Cambrian, rapidly evolved into a variety of forms occupying many of the niches exploited by crustaceans today. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1422728 | 1,065,989 |
1,296,065 | Research in active matter combines analytical techniques, numerical simulations and experiments. Notable analytical approaches include hydrodynamics, kinetic theory, and non-equilibrium statistical physics. Numerical studies mainly involve self-propelled-particles models, making use of agent-based models such as molecular dynamics algorithms or lattice-gas models, as well as computational studies of hydrodynamic equations of active fluids. Experiments on biological systems extend over a wide range of scales, including animal groups (e.g., bird flocks, mammalian herds, fish schools and insect swarms), bacterial colonies, cellular tissues (e.g. epithelial tissue layers, cancer growth and embryogenesis), cytoskeleton components (e.g., "in vitro" motility assays, actin-myosin networks and molecular-motor driven filaments). Experiments on synthetic systems include self-propelled colloids (e.g., phoretically propelled particles), driven granular matter (e.g. vibrated monolayers), swarming robots and Quinke rotators. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26053735 | 1,295,354 |
1,475,256 | The diagnosis is based on clinical presentation, quantitative HCG, ultrasound, and pathologic evaluation. A solid, heterogeneous, echogenic mass has a positive predictive value of 80%, but is present in only a minority of cases. A thickened endometrium of > 10 mm is usually considered abnormal, though no consensus exists on the appropriate cutoff. A cut-off of 8 mm or more has 34% positive rate, while a cut off of 14 mm or more has 85% sensitivity, 64% specificity for the diagnosis. Color Doppler flow in the endometrial canal can increased confidence in the diagnosis, though its absence does not exclude it, as 40% of cases of retained products have little or no flow. The differential in suspected cases includes uterine atony, blood clot, gestational trophoblastic disease, and normal post partum appearance of the uterus. Post partum blood clot is more common, reported in up to 24% of postpartum patients, and tends to be more hypoechoic than retained products with absent color flow on Doppler, and resolving spontaneously on follow up scans. The presence of gas raises the possibility of post partum endometritis, though this can also be seen in up to 21% of normal post pregnancy states. The normal post partum uterus is usually less than 2 cm in thickness, and continues to involute on follow up scans to 7 mm or less over time. Retained products are not uncommon, occurring in approximately 1% of all pregnancies, though it more common following abortions, either elective or spontaneous. There is significant overlap between appearance of a normal post partum uterus and retained products. If there is no endometrial canal mass or fluid, and endometrial thickness is less than 10 mm and without increased flow, retained products are statistically unlikely. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35574369 | 1,474,424 |
1,149,195 | In fact, from a high-level perspective, the 7600 was quite similar to the 6600. At the time computer memory could be arranged in blocks with independent access paths, and Cray's designs used this to their advantage. While most machines would use a single CPU to run all the functionality of the system, Cray realized that this meant each memory block spent a considerable amount of time idle while the CPU was processing instructions and accessing other blocks. In order to take advantage of this, the 6600 and 7600 left mundane housekeeping tasks, printing output or reading punched cards, for instance, to a series of ten smaller 12-bit machines based on the CDC 160-A known as "Peripheral Processor Units", or PPUs. For any given cycle of the machine one of the PPUs was in control, feeding data into the memory while the main processor was crunching numbers. When the cycle completed, the next PPU was given control. In this way the memory always held up-to-date information for the main processor to work on (barring delays in the external devices themselves), eliminating delays on data, as well as allowing the CPU to be built for mathematical performance and nothing else. The PPU could have been called a very smart "communications channel". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=655742 | 1,148,588 |
752,391 | When conscription was introduced in Britain on 2 March 1916, Eddington intended to apply for an exemption as a conscientious objector. Cambridge University authorities instead requested and were granted an exemption on the ground of Eddington's work being of national interest. In 1918, this was appealed against by the Ministry of National Service. Before the appeal tribunal in June, Eddington claimed conscientious objector status, which was not recognized and would have ended his exemption in August 1918. A further two hearings took place in June and July, respectively. Eddington's personal statement at the June hearing about his objection to war based on religious grounds is on record. The Astronomer Royal, Sir Frank Dyson, supported Eddington at the July hearing with a written statement, emphasising Eddington's essential role in the solar eclipse expedition to Príncipe in May 1919. Eddington made clear his willingness to serve in the Friends' Ambulance Unit, under the jurisdiction of the British Red Cross, or as a harvest labourer. However, the tribunal's decision to grant a further twelve months' exemption from military service was on condition of Eddington continuing his astronomy work, in particular in preparation for the Príncipe expedition. The war ended before the end of his exemption. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2274 | 751,989 |
298,413 | The difference in gene frequencies between the original population and colony may also trigger the two groups to diverge significantly over the course of many generations. As the difference, or genetic distance, increases, the two separated populations may become distinct, both genetically and phenetically, although not only genetic drift but also natural selection, gene flow, and mutation contribute to this divergence. This potential for relatively rapid changes in the colony's gene frequency led most scientists to consider the founder effect (and by extension, genetic drift) a significant driving force in the evolution of new species. Sewall Wright was the first to attach this significance to random drift and small, newly isolated populations with his shifting balance theory of speciation. Following after Wright, Ernst Mayr created many persuasive models to show that the decline in genetic variation and small population size following the founder effect were critically important for new species to develop. However, there is much less support for this view today since the hypothesis has been tested repeatedly through experimental research and the results have been equivocal at best. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=72016 | 298,253 |
1,903,218 | From 1982 to 1988 he worked at University of Texas at Austin as a teaching assistant, lecturer and research associate. He is now an Associate Professor of General Physics at University of Salento (Italy), tenured since 1999, and a member of Centro Fermi, Rome. He collaborated with John Archibald Wheeler in 1995 to write "Gravitation and Inertia", for which they won the PROSE Award for the best professional and scholar book in physics and astronomy. He works mainly in the field of General Relativity and Gravitational Physics, proposing a method to measure the effects of gravitomagnetism using the data from the laser ranged satellites LAGEOS and LAGEOS-2. He was featured on the cover of the September 6, 2007 issue of Nature, dedicated to his review paper on Dragging of Inertial Frames and General Relativity. He is the Principal Investigator for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) of the Laser Relativity Satellite (LARES) mission, a space mission aimed to improve the accuracy of the measurement of frame-dragging. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39868218 | 1,902,126 |
988,652 | Beamon entered the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City as the favorite to win the gold medal, having won 22 of the 23 meets he had competed in that year, including a career best of 8.33 m (equivalent to 27 feet 4 inches) and a world's best of 8.39 m that was ineligible for the record books due to excessive wind assistance. That year he won the AAU and NCAA indoor long jump and triple jump titles, as well as the AAU outdoor long jump title. He came close to missing the Olympic final, overstepping on his first two attempts in qualifying. With only one chance left, Beamon re-measured his approach run from a spot in front of the board and made a fair jump that advanced him to the final. There he faced the two previous gold-medal winners, fellow American Ralph Boston (1960) and Lynn Davies of Great Britain (1964), and twice bronze medallist Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=305498 | 988,136 |
1,423,736 | Today, the small size of fully automatic camcorders with large view screens and long-life rechargeable batteries has reduced the housing size and made underwater videography an easy, fun activity for the diver. Low-cost wide-angle lens add-ons are available for many cameras and some can even be fitted outside the camera housing for versatile use. This lets the photographer get closer and make the subject clearer and also with fewer focusing and depth of field problems. Today cameras are more sensitive to low light conditions and make automatic color balancing adjustments. Nevertheless, deeper water videography still needs auxiliary light sources to bring out colors filtered out of sunlight by the distance it has travelled through water. The longest wavelengths of light are lost first (reds and yellows) leaving only a greenish or blue cast in deep water. Even a hand light will help show off some of the magnificent colors of a coral reef or other marine life if used during recording. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=297297 | 1,422,934 |
1,668,866 | Canadian public health at the turn of the 20th century was defined by increasing local and provincial efforts to control the spread of infectious diseases which worsened with urbanization. In particular, diphtheria (known as "The Strangler" for its infection of the respiratory system) was the leading cause of death among Canadian children under 14 until the mid-1920s. In Ontario alone, 36,000 children died from diphtheria between 1880 and 1929. Research at the end of the 19th century, notably involving Pierre Paul Émile Roux and Alexandre Yersin of the Pasteur Institute as well as Emil von Behring and Kitasato Shibasaburō, had paved the way for diphtheria antitoxin production using horses. The antitoxin could save lives when given early enough in the course of the disease, and in large enough doses. Despite the developments, treatment was often too costly for middle class families since Canadian public health efforts to counter the spread of diphtheria were largely dependent upon expensive imports from commercial U.S. firms. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61019378 | 1,667,926 |
37,197 | In early 2014, the Nicholas School of the Environment opened a new home, Environmental Hall, a five-story, glass-and-concrete building that incorporates the highest sustainable features and technologies, and meets or exceeds the criteria for LEED platinum certification. The School of Nursing in April 2014 opened a new addition to the Christine Siegler Pearson Building. In summer 2014, a number of construction projects were completed. The project is part of the final phase of renovations to Duke's West Campus libraries that have transformed one of the university's oldest and most recognizable buildings into a state-of-the-art research facility. The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library reopened in August 2015 after about $60 million in renovations to the sections of the building built in 1928 and 1948. The renovations include more space, technology upgrades and new exhibits. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=53273 | 37,184 |
919,454 | Even though opioid receptor families are similar to each other in many ways, their structural differences lead to differences in functionality. Thus, mu-opioid receptors induce relaxation, trust, satisfaction and have a strong analgesic effect. This system is also thought to be important in mediating complex social behaviors involved in the formation of stable, emotionally committed relationships. Social attachment was demonstrated to be mediated by the opioid system through experiments administering morphine and naltrexone, an opioid agonist and antagonist, to juvenile guinea pigs. The agonist decreased the preference of the juvenile to be near the mother and reduced distress vocalization whereas the antagonist had the opposite effects. Experiments were corroborated in dogs, chicks, and rats confirming the evolutionary importance of opioid signaling in these behaviors. Researchers have also found that systemic naltrexone treatment of female prairie voles during initial exposure to a male reduced subsequent mating bouts and nonsexual socialization with this familiar partner, when a choice test including a novel male was performed afterwards. This points to a role for opioid receptors in mating behaviors. However, mu-opioid receptors don't have specificity for regulating social behaviour as they induce a relaxing effect in a wide spectrum of non-social contexts. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=736407 | 918,969 |
897,792 | This idea was received with disbelief, denial and strong scepticism, but further evidence is emerging to support it. In 2007, isotopic analyses by a team including Hueber and Kevin Boyce of the University of Chicago concluded that "Prototaxites" was a giant fungus. They detected a highly variable range of values of carbon isotope ratios in a range of "Prototaxites" specimens; autotrophs (organisms such as plants and algae, that make a living via photosynthesis) living at the same time draw on the same (atmospheric) source of carbon; as organisms of the same type share the same chemical machinery, they reflect this atmospheric composition with a constant carbon isotope trace. The inconsistent ratio observed in "Prototaxites" appears to show that the organism did not survive by photosynthesis, and Boyce's team deduced that the organism fed on a range of substrates, such as the remains of whichever other organisms were nearby. Nevertheless, the large size of the organism would necessitate an extensive network of subterranean mycelia in order to obtain enough organic carbon to accumulate the necessary biomass. Root-like structures have circumstantially been interpreted as "Prototaxites"'s rhizomorphs, and could support the possibility of the organism transporting nutrients large distances to support its above-ground body. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10857884 | 897,318 |
46,666 | Molecular evidence indicates that the lineage of gibbons (family Hylobatidae), the "lesser apes", diverged from that of the great apes some 18–12 million years ago, and that of orangutans (subfamily Ponginae) diverged from the other great apes at about 12 million years. There are no fossils that clearly document the ancestry of gibbons, which may have originated in a still-unknown South East Asian hominoid population; but fossil proto-orangutans, dated to around 10 million years ago, may be represented by "Sivapithecus" from India and "Griphopithecus" from Turkey. Species close to the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans may be represented by "Nakalipithecus" fossils found in Kenya and "Ouranopithecus" found in Greece. Molecular evidence suggests that between 8 and 4 million years ago, first the gorillas (genus "Gorilla"), and then the chimpanzees (genus "Pan") split off from the line leading to the humans. Human DNA is approximately 98.4% identical to that of chimpanzees when comparing single nucleotide polymorphisms (see human evolutionary genetics). The fossil record, however, of gorillas and chimpanzees is limited; both poor preservation—rain forest soils tend to be acidic and dissolve bone—and sampling bias probably contribute most to this problem. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19773811 | 46,648 |
1,937,949 | The number of tenure-tracked female faculty spiked from 150 in 1992 to 240 that year; 265 women played on university-sponsored intercollegiate athletic teams. In 1993, Barbara Ross-Lee, D.O., was appointed Dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, becoming the first female African American to serve as dean of a medical school in America. Queer visibility increased on the Athens campus in the 1990s. In the Glidden administration, from 1994 to 2004, new construction included the Life Sciences Research Facility, Emeriti Park, Walter Hall, plus major renovations to Gordy Hall, Grover Center, and Memorial Auditorium; the expansion of Bentley Hall and Copeland Hall; and groundwork for the new Baker Center that opened in 2007. At the seventy-fifth anniversary of women's suffrage in 1995, the university placed a plaque on Memorial Auditorium commemorating Susan B. Anthony's visit to Athens. In 1999, the university hired Susan Burgess as the first full-time tenured director of the women's studies program. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38411419 | 1,936,839 |
1,439,196 | Certain number formats may be chosen for an application for convenience in programming, or because of certain advantages offered by the hardware for that number format. For instance, early processors did not natively support the IEEE floating-point standard for representing fractional values, so integers were used to store representations of the real world values by applying a scale factor to the real value. Similarly, because hardware arithmetic has a fixed width (commonly 16, 32, or 64 bits, depending on the data type), scale factors allow representation of larger numbers (by manually multiplying or dividing by the specified scale factor), though at the expense of precision. By necessity, this was done in software, since the hardware did not support fractional value. Scale factors are also used in floating-point numbers, and most commonly are powers of two. For example, the double-precision format sets aside 11 bits for the scaling factor (a binary exponent) and 53 bits for the significand, allowing various degrees of precision for representing different ranges of numbers, and expanding the range of representable numbers beyond what could be represented using 64 explicit bits (though at the cost of precision). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4252019 | 1,438,386 |
561,810 | For either process to occur the molecules must form a stable aqueous suspension. There are four common processes by which the particle can obtain surface charge needed to form a stable dispersion: 1. Dissociation or ionization of a surface group 2. Reabsorption of ions 3. Adsorption of ionized surfactants 4. Isomorphic substitution. The molecule's surface chemistry and its local environment will determine how it obtains a surface charge. Without sufficient surface charge to balance the van der Waals attractive forces between particles, they will aggregate. A charged surface is not the only parameter that influences colloidal stability. Particle size, zeta potential, and the solvent's conductivity, viscosity, and dielectric constant also determine the dispersion's stability. So long as the dispersion is stable, the initial rate of deposition will be primarily determined by the electric field strength. Solution resistance can dissipate the applied voltage, so the actual surface charge on each electrode may be lower than intended. The charged particles will attach to a substrate located on the oppositely charged electrode. As a simplification, under low voltages and short deposition times, Hamaker's law describes a linear relationship between the field strength, deposited thickness, and time. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1476858 | 561,521 |
1,891,460 | Robbie Davis-Floyd is a fellow recipient of the Society for Applied Anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin. She was a fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1980. Davis-Floyd was awarded a faculty development grant from Trinity University around 1988 and 1989. She was recognized as a research fellow from the University of Texas in 1994. In the same year, Robbie Davis-Floyd was an Academy of Consciousness Studies fellow at Princeton University. She received the Institute of Noetic Sciences grant (1995-1997). Davis-Floyd was honored with the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics & Lamaze Research Award in 1996. In 1996-1998 and 1999–2000, Robbie Davis-Floyd received two Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research grants. She also received multiple research grants from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics between 1996 and 1998. One of the research grants was provided by the Honeywell Corporation in 1998. These research grants were awarded for "Space Stories: Oral Histories from the Pioneers of the American Space Program.". In 2003, she (and Carolyn Sargent) received the Enduring Edited Collection Book Prize from the Council on Anthropology and Reproduction for Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge. In 2005, she received the Transforming Birth Fund Grant Award for Research & Best Practice Dissemination to support "Birth Models that Work", via the Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery. Davis-Floyd received the Transforming Birth Fund Grant Award for Changemakers in 2006, which was supported by Waterbirth International. During 2007 Davis-Floyd received an award from the Transforming Birth Fund Grant Award (for Research & Best Practice Dissemination) to have key articles and chapters of hers translated into Spanish. Her work was long supported by a grant from the Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery. and is now supported by an ongoing grant from the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health. Robbie Davis-Floyd was recognized by the NARM board for her 15 years of service to the North American Registry of Midwives and was honored with an award from MANA for her years of service to American midwifery in 2012. She was also awarded with an "Homenagem" from ReHuNa, a birth activist organization in Brazil that was presented to her by the Brazilian Minister of Health in 2010 for defining "the technocratic, humanistic, and holistic paradigms of birth and health care"—theoretical concepts she created to help practitioners and mothers understand the implications of their ideological choices for the management and outcomes of their births. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52996023 | 1,890,377 |
339,744 | The ride of Revere, Dawes, and Prescott triggered a flexible system of "alarm and muster" that had been carefully developed months before, in reaction to the colonists' impotent response to the Powder Alarm. This system was an improved version of an old notification network for use in times of emergency. The colonists had periodically used it during the early years of Indian wars in the colony before it fell into disuse in the French and Indian War. In addition to other express riders delivering messages, bells, drums, alarm guns, bonfires and a trumpet were used for rapid communication from town to town, notifying the rebels in dozens of eastern Massachusetts villages that they should muster their militias because over 500 regulars were leaving Boston. This system was so effective that people in towns from Boston were aware of the army's movements while they were still unloading boats in Cambridge. These early warnings played a crucial role in assembling a sufficient number of colonial militia to inflict heavy damage on the British regulars later in the day. Adams and Hancock were eventually moved to safety, first to what is now Burlington and later to Billerica. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4321886 | 339,564 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.