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429,906 | Shelter was the essential function of the caravanserais. Therefore, these structures had stables for the animals, places for packing and unpacking goods, and lodgings for travelers. The shelter galleries were composed of two parallel bands at two different levels. The lower band on ground level housed the stables and the upper band was a platform that housed the goods and people. These different levels maintained differing degrees of cleanliness, as it separated the animals and people. Many caravanserais also had water systems, including drainage and sewage in the building. These buildings were meant to encourage trade in the Seljuq empire. They were constructed on the principal trade lines and catered to travelers from around the world. Caravanserais served multiple purposes such as military uses, government houses for the sultan and his retinue, and royal guesthouses for visiting monarchs. They also were used as prisons, places of refuge, and for religious purposes. These buildings offered meals, shelter, medical care, bathing, and other such services to all types of travelers. Most of these structures also included a mosque or at least a space to perform religious rituals. The types of service and amount of space that the service areas occupied varied a lot. No two caravanserais had exactly the same plan. They were all unique even if they provided the same services. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30557685 | 429,695 |
1,535,694 | Finally, with the globalization of psychology comes the demand for more culturally sensitive paradigms (Heine, 2016). Traditionally, psychology was taught in the Western context, reflecting the norms, values, and data of those particular regions. Increasing awareness that this psychology does not sufficiently address culturally specific as well as global issues and therefore does not fully apply to some cultures has led to the call for indigenous psychologies, or at least an alternative psychology to the mainstream, reductionistic paradigm which may be applied to most, if not all, cultures (Kim, Yang, & Hwang, 2006). Prominent centers of indigenous psychology include Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan. Moreover, the increasing inclusion of globally collected data of psychological relevance is gradually undermining the traditionally ethnocentric nature of psychology as taught in the United States and elsewhere in the West (e.g., Hofstede, 2001). Theoretically, indigenous psychologists emphasizing culturally sensitive paradigms tend to see themselves as cultural rather than as cross-cultural psychologists. Moreover, global psychology profits from an emphasis on interdisciplinary cooperation with experts from fields such as cultural and psychological anthropology, sociology, behavioral economics, and political science. This holds true because behavior patterns are generally influenced by a broad array of forces that may vary from society to society. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12691183 | 1,534,826 |
1,282,107 | Media stories about spare parts overpricing and questionable contractor overhead charges created a national sensation. This negative publicity, coupled with soaring federal deficits and reductions in domestic spending, contributed by the middle of the decade to a political backlash against Ronald Reagan's military programs. The situation gave enormous political impetus to reductions of defense spending and an overhaul of the nation's military establishment, including its weapons acquisition practices. AFSC led the way for acquisition improvements with greater reliance on multi-year contracting to stabilize weapons programs and increased investment in modernization programs for the defense industrial base. On 26 April 1984 the vice-commander of AFSC, Lieutenant General Robert M. Bond, was killed during a retirement visit to the 6513th Test Squadron at Groom Lake while flying a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 at over Mach 2. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1827412 | 1,281,411 |
1,460,902 | From recent studies, de novo and inherited mutations in the gene "COL4A1", suggesting genetic predisposition within the family, that encodes type IV collagen α1 chain has shown to be associated with and present in patients with porencephaly. "COL4A1" mutation causes a variety of phenotypes, including porencephaly, infantile hemiplegia, and cerebral small vessel diseases involving both stroke and infarction. Abnormal gene expression of "COL4A1" can contribute to the development of porencephaly. "COL4A1" gene expresses a type IV collagen (basement protein) that is present in all tissue and blood vessels and is extremely important for the structural stability of vascular basement membranes. The "COL4A1" protein provides a strong layer around blood vessels. The mutation can weaken the blood vessels within the brain, elevating the probability of a hemorrhage, and eventually promoting internal bleeding then leading to porencephaly during neurodevelopment of infantile stage. Therefore, the formation of cavities can be a result of hemorrhages which promote cerebral degeneration. In a mouse model, mouse with "COL4A1" mutations displayed cerebral hemorrhage, porencephaly, and abnormal development of vascular basement membranes, such as uneven edges, inconsistent shapes, and highly variable thickness. Purposely causing a mutation in the "COL4A1" gene caused several mouse to develop cerebral hemorrhage and porencephaly-like diseases. Though, there is no direct correlation between mutations of the "COL4A1" gene, it appears that it has an influential effect on the development of porencephaly. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=232052 | 1,460,080 |
1,207,299 | "Almirante Latorre" was launched first, on 27 November 1913, in an elaborate ceremony that was attended by various dignitaries and presided over by Chile's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Agustín Edwards Mac Clure. The battleship was christened by the ambassador's wife, Olga Budge de Edwards, and weighed at the time. After the First World War broke out in Europe, work on "Almirante Latorre" was halted in August 1914, and it was formally purchased on 9 September after the British Cabinet recommended it four days earlier. "Almirante Latorre" was not forcibly seized like the Ottoman and (ex-"Rio de Janeiro"), two other ships being built for a foreign navy, because of Chile's "friendly neutral" status with the United Kingdom. The former Chilean ship was completed on 30 September 1915, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 15 October. Work on the other ship, "Almirante Cochrane", was halted after the outbreak of war. The British purchased it on 28 February 1918 to be converted to an aircraft carrier, as the partially completed ship was the only available large and fast hull capable of being modified into a full flush-deck carrier. Low priority and quarrels with shipyard workers slowed completion of the ship. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29390357 | 1,206,653 |
1,908,479 | There are various technological challenges, but all are within high-end laboratory capabilities. The primary requirement is that the mass of the cavity remains as small as possible. To avoid noise on the interferometer and have a low probability of emitting more than one photon each time, a very low absolute temperature for the experiment is needed, on the order of 60 μK. For similar reasons, and to avoid decoherence, the experimental device has to be in ultra-high vacuum conditions. The wavelength of the photons was calculated to be roughly 630 nm so the reflecting surfaces can be as small as possible and yet avoid refraction and reflectivity issues. The micromechanical-oscillator can be similar to the cantilevers in atomic force microscopy and the reflective surfaces typically used in similar high-demanding experiments pose no real challenge. Various elaborate electromagnetic mechanisms have been proposed to "reset" the cavities to a stable state before each repetition of the experiment. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43111669 | 1,907,382 |
1,806,220 | Starting in 1992, Cheney and Seyfarth carried out a 16-year study of communication and social behavior among baboons in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. There, they and their colleagues continued their experimental studies of social cognition, showing that monkeys have a sophisticated understanding of each other's dominance ranks and social relationships. They also used non-invasive techniques to study the factors that contribute to stress and its alleviation under natural conditions. This work is described in their book "Baboon Metaphysics" (Cheney & Seyfarth, 2007, University of Chicago Press). Since 2005, research conducted jointly with Joan Silk has shown that, as in humans, individuals who establish close, stable bonds with others experience increased fitness in the form of greater longevity and offspring survival. Individuals with close social bonds also experience reduced stress levels. These results suggest that natural selection has favored individuals who have both the skill and the motivation to form strategic social bonds, and that the evolutionary antecedents of human cooperation can be found even in species without language or culture. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=57377967 | 1,805,203 |
1,679,078 | The missile shield protecting the containment structure is intended to protect not only from natural forces, such as tornadoes, but is designed to be strong enough to withstand a direct hit from a greater passenger jetliner. One plant, Florida's Turkey Point NGS, survived a direct hit by Category 5 Hurricane Andrew in 1992, with no damage to the containment. No actual missile shield has been subjected to an aircraft impact test. However, a highly similar test was done at Sandia National Laboratories and filmed (see Containment building), and the target was essentially undamaged (reinforced concrete is strongly resistant both to impact and to fire). The NRC's Chairman has said "Nuclear power plants are inherently robust structures that our studies provide adequate protection in a hypothetical attack by an airplane. The NRC has also taken actions that require nuclear power plant operators to be able to manage large fires or explosions - no matter what has caused them." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10638591 | 1,678,135 |
1,139,656 | Microglia are located throughout the brain and spinal cord. They are the first line of immune defense in the CNS. Microglia are of utmost importance in brain maintenance. They constantly search around the CNS for any type of plaques, damaged neurons, and infections. Microglia are extremely sensitive forms of effector cells, because they must be alert enough to address possible life-threatening damage. This sensitivity is caused by unique forms of potassium channels. Microglia must always be capable of recognizing any foreign bodies, engulf them, and activate T-cells. Microglia can be found under a variety of different shapes and sizes, based on the location where they are found. The vast amount of shapes are required for the microglia to carry out their primary function. Microglia are distinguishable from macrophages because of their ability to transform, which allows them to protect the CNS under relatively short amounts of time. Microglia take on a unique phenotype when they detect local chemical signals. Microglia have a variety of different functions required to maintain homeostasis in the host body. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1680989 | 1,139,063 |
568,519 | The aim of the Modernisation Plan had been to stem BR's financial losses. These were thought to arise partially from the labour-intensive nature of steam locomotive use. The rapid introduction of diesel and electric traction eliminated steam from mainline use by 1968, but many unsuitable designs of diesel locomotive had been rushed into service in order to achieve this. The National Traction Plan of 1967/8 decreed that designs proving unreliable, expensive to maintain or non-standard should be eliminated as quickly as possible in order to reduce the number of diesel classes from 28 to 15 by the year 1974. The engineering factions of the British Railways Board, the body that oversaw BR's operations from 1962 onwards, felt that all of the Western Region's diesel-hydraulic fleet should be counted as non-standard and should be withdrawn as quickly as possible. This was driven in part by the introduction of Mark 2D air-conditioned carriages, which could only be heated electrically. This requirement for electric train supply (ETS) placed all diesel-hydraulic locomotives at a disadvantage compared with diesel-electrics. The entire class was withdrawn between 1971 and 1975. They were replaced by Class 37 diesel-electric locomotives made redundant in other regions as a result of a general decline in railborne freight traffic throughout the 1960s. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2725987 | 568,229 |
1,194,498 | Low overpotential and high catalytic activity of [FeFe] hydrogenases are accompanied by high O sensitivity. It is necessary to engineer them O-tolerant for use in solar H production since O is a by-product of water splitting reaction. Past research efforts by various groups around the world have focused on understanding the mechanisms involved in O-inactivation of hydrogenases. For instance, Stripp et al. relied on protein film electrochemistry and discovered that O first converts into a reactive species at the active site of [FeFe] hydrogenases, and then damages its [4Fe-4S] domain. Cohen et al. investigated how oxygen can reach the active site that is buried inside the protein body by molecular dynamics simulation approach; their results indicate that O diffuses through mainly two pathways that are formed by enlargement of and interconnection between cavities during dynamic motion. These works, in combination with other reports, suggest that inactivation is governed by two phenomena: diffusion of O to the active site, and destructive modification of the active site. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1961054 | 1,193,858 |
1,755,019 | NOCS has a variety of large and small analytical instrumentation. The Magnetism Laboratory is equipped with a MicroMag 3900 Vibrating Sample Magnetometer, an AGICO KLY4S Kappabridge and a 2G Superconducting Rock Magnetometer. The X-Ray Diffraction facility is equipped with a X’Pert pro XRD machine with Cu X-ray tube. For geochemical analysis NOCS houses a range of large analytical instrumentation, including two Thermo NEPTUNE multi collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (MC-ICP-MS), a Thermo X-SERIES 2 Quadrupole ICP-MS, a Thermo ELEMENT 2XR high-resolution ICP-MS, a Thermo TRITON and a VG Sector 54 Thermal Ionization system, a New Wave NWR193 laser ablation system. For analysis of dissolved organic carbon and total dissolved nitrogen the Southampton-based branch of the NERC NOC is operating a Shimandzu TOV V CPN-TN at NOCS. For seismic studies of the seafloor, sediment packages and sub-seafloor structures the Marine Geophysics group at NOCS operates a wide range of instrumentation, including Chirp, Boomer, Sparker and 3D Chirp sources, single- and multi-channel hydrophones, several multibeam systems and a sidescan sonar. The Ocean Bottom Instrumentation Consortium based at NOCS provides the academic and commercial communities with access to a range of multi-sensor seabed instruments. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1834279 | 1,754,029 |
1,242,685 | No scientifically plausible method of action is proposed for Tapas Acupressure Technique, instead relying on unvalidated putative energy and meridians with no identified biophysical or histological basis. A 2005 review of so-called "Power Therapies" concluded that TAT and similar techniques "offered no new scientifically valid theories of action, show only non-specific efficacy, show no evidence that they offer substantive improvements to extant psychiatric care, yet display many characteristics consistent with pseudoscience." TAT also conforms to the "nine practices of pseudoscience" as identified by AR Pratkins. There are many, primarily psychological, explanations for positive therapeutic outcomes such as the placebo effect or cognitive dissonance. A 2009 review identified "methodological flaws" in research that had reported "small successes" for TAT and a related "energy psychology" therapy (Emotional Freedom Techniques) "are potentially attributable to well-known cognitive and behavioral techniques that are included with the energy manipulation." The report concluded that "Psychologists and researchers should be wary of using such techniques, and make efforts to inform the public about the ill effects of therapies that advertise miraculous claims." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10677378 | 1,242,013 |
1,042,988 | In 2017 Kelly described using a single-coil magnet with 1/r magnetic field falloff rate and more experimental results. In 2019 Kelly and Little published simulation results for magnetoshell performance scaling. A magnet with radius formula_116=1 m was tethered to a spacecraft with batteries for 1,000 seconds of operation (longer than aerocapture designs). The simulations assumed a magnet mass formula_494=1,000 kg and total magnetoshell system mass of 1,623 kg, suitable for a Cassini–Huygens or Juno size orbiter. The planet's mass and atmosphere atomic composition and density determine a threshold velocity where magnetoshell operation is feasible. Saturn and Neptune have a hydrogen atmosphere and a threshold velocity of approximately 22 km/s. In a Neptune mission a formula_495=6 km is required for a 5,000 kg spacecraft and must average 50 kN for the maneuver duration. The model overestimates performance for N (Earth, Titan) and CO (Venus, Mars) atmospheres since multiple ion species are created and more complex interactions occur. Furthermore, the relatively lower mass of Venus and Mars reduces the threshold velocity below that of feasible magnetoshell operation. The paper states that aerocapture technologies are mature enough for these mission profiles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37845 | 1,042,444 |
381,219 | The Sanchi pillar was found in 1851 in excavations led by Sir Alexander Cunningham, first head of the Archaeological Survey of India. There were no surviving traces above ground of the Sarnath pillar, mentioned in the accounts of medieval Chinese pilgrims, when the Indian Civil Service engineer F.O. Oertel, with no real experience in archaeology, was allowed to excavate there in the winter of 1904–05. He first uncovered the remains of a Gupta shrine west of the main stupa, overlying an Ashokan structure. To the west of that he found the lowest section of the pillar, upright but broken off near ground level. Most of the rest of the pillar was found in three sections nearby, and then, since the Sanchi capital had been excavated in 1851, the search for an equivalent was continued, and the Lion Capital of Ashoka, the most famous of the group, was found close by. It was both finer in execution and in much better condition than that at Sanchi. The pillar appeared to have been deliberately destroyed at some point. The finds were recognised as so important that the first onsite museum in India (and one of the few then in the world) was set up to house them. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1398017 | 381,024 |
1,356,915 | Amorphous silicon TFTs have been widely used in liquid-crystal display (LCD) flat panels because they can be assembled into complex high-current driver circuits. Amorphous Si-TFT electrodes drive the alignment of crystals in LCDs. The evolution to LTPS-TFTs can have many benefits such as higher device resolution, lower synthesis temperature, and reduced price of essential substrates. However, LTPS-TFTs also have several drawbacks. For example, the area of TFTs in traditional a-Si devices is large, resulting in a small aperture ratio (the amount of area which is not blocked by the opaque TFT and thus admits light). The incompatibility of different aperture ratios prevents LTPS-based complex circuits and drivers from being integrated into a-Si material. Additionally, the quality of LTPS decreases over time due to an increase in temperature upon turning on the transistor, which degrades the film by breaking the Si-H bonds in the material. This would cause the device to suffer from drain breakdown and current leakage, most notably in small and thin transistors, which dissipate heat poorly. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=45704063 | 1,356,165 |
1,104,104 | Many strategies exist to identify array probes that show an unusual level of over-expression or under-expression. The simplest one is to call "significant" any probe that differs by an average of at least twofold between treatment groups. More sophisticated approaches are often related to t-tests or other mechanisms that take both effect size and variability into account. Curiously, the p-values associated with particular genes do not reproduce well between replicate experiments, and lists generated by straight fold change perform much better. This represents an extremely important observation, since the point of performing experiments has to do with predicting general behavior. The MAQC group recommends using a fold change assessment plus a non-stringent p-value cutoff, further pointing out that changes in the background correction and scaling process have only a minimal impact on the rank order of fold change differences, but a substantial impact on p-values. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7766542 | 1,103,541 |
1,477,113 | This is an intense building period for the spring racing season. The training regimen consists primarily of long interval training, which gradually becomes shorter and more intense as the race season approaches. This is done on the water for schools below the snowline. And for some of the northern colleges that practice on lakes and rivers which are frozen during winter, these pieces are done using ergometers and, if the college is lucky enough to have them, rowperfect rowing simulators and indoor rowing tanks. Additionally, most schools, regardless of whether they have water to row on, do ergometer testing (all out maximum performance test), weights, stadium stairs and long runs. A few colleges and universities send their fastest rowers to the CRASH-B Sprints in Boston. This 2,000 meter race is held on ergometers and features separate events for collegiate athletes. Many northeastern colleges have a winter training trip to a warmer state such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas during either winter break or spring break to give students extra time on the water while the local rivers and lakes are frozen. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1190034 | 1,476,281 |
1,409,815 | Furthermore, research into technologies which utilize THz frequencies show the capabilities for advanced sensing techniques. In areas where other wavelengths are limited, THz frequencies appear to fill the near future gap for advancements in security, public health, biomedicine, defense, communication, and quality control in manufacturing. This terahertz band has the distinction of being non-invasive and will therefore not disrupt or perturb the structure of the object being radiated. At the same time this frequency band demonstrates capabilities such as passing through and imaging the contents of a plastic container, penetrating a few millimeters of human skin tissue without ill effects, passing through clothing to detect hidden objects on personnel, and the detection of chemical and biological agents as novel approaches for counter-terrorism. Terahertz metamaterials, because they interact at the appropriate THz frequencies, seem to be one answer in developing materials which use THz radiation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24386708 | 1,409,023 |
1,117,111 | While at Newark, Lazarsfeld was appointed head of the Princeton Office of the Radio Research Project, which was later moved to Columbia. In 1937, he first tried to have the project moved to Newark, and when that request was turned down, split his time between the project and his institute in Newark. He feared (correctly, perhaps) that the institute would fail without his management. At the Project, Lazarsfeld expanded the aims postulated by the assistant directors, Hadley Cantril and Frank Stanton, and in a special issue of the "Journal of Applied Psychology" in February 1939, edited by Lazarsfeld, he tied together some of the varied research the Project was engaged in. Lazarsfeld felt this publication was necessary because "no central theory was visible, and we began hearing rumors that important people questioned whether we knew what we were doing" (Lazarsfeld, 1969). But in the spring of 1939, the Rockefeller foundation officers were still unconvinced and "required more solid evidence of achievement" before they would renew funding. The result was "Radio and the Printed Page". These two publications did much to consolidate and define the field of communication. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=427665 | 1,116,538 |
490,734 | The Irenaean theodicy is challenged by the assertion that many evils do not promote spiritual growth, but can instead be destructive of the human spirit. Hick acknowledges that this process often fails in our world. Horrendous suffering often leads to dehumanization, and its victims become angry, bitter, vindictive and spiritually worse. Yet, life crises are a catalyst for change that is often positive. Neurologists Bryan Kolb and Bruce Wexler indicate this has to do with the plasticity of the brain. The brain is highly plastic in childhood development, becoming less so by adulthood once development is completed. Thereafter, the brain resists change. The neurons in the brain can only make permanent changes "when the conditions are right" because the brain's development is dependent upon the stimulation it receives. When the brain receives the powerful stimulus that experiences like bereavement, life-threatening illness, and other deeply painful experiences provide, a prolonged and difficult internal struggle, where the individual completely re-examines their self-concept and perceptions of reality, reshapes neurological structures. The literature refers to "turning points," "defining moments," "crucible moments," and "life-changing events." These are experiences that form a catalyst in an individual's life so that the individual is personally transformed, often emerging with a sense of learning, strength and growth, that empowers them to pursue different paths than they otherwise would have. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10129212 | 490,480 |
704,252 | Small facilities prevailed instead, often sold to private owners such as farms. Government policies promoted their construction; at the same time, positive geographical factors favored their spread, such as good wind power density and Denmark's decentralized patterns of settlement. A lack of administrative obstacles also played a role. Small and robust systems came on line, at first in the power range of only 50–60 kilowatts – using 1940s technology and sometimes hand-crafted by very small businesses. In the late seventies and the eighties a brisk export trade to the United States developed, where wind energy also experienced an early boom. In 1986 Denmark already had about 1200 wind power turbines, though they still accounted for just barely 1% of Denmark's electricity. This share increased significantly over time. In 2011, renewable energies covered 41% of electricity consumption, and wind power facilities alone accounted for 28%. The government aims to increase wind energy's share of power generation to 50% by 2020, while at the same time reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 40%. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39208945 | 703,884 |
1,399,364 | XMM-Newton's observations made it possible to detect wide absorption features in spectra of several of the Magnificent Seven. Although their origin is not clear yet (see Haberl (2006) for references and more detailed description of the results), it is almost certain that the stars' strong magnetic field plays a fundamental role in their formation. Absorption features may then provide a powerful diagnostics for the strength of the surface field. At present, two main explanations for their origin have been suggested: either proton cyclotron resonances or atomic transitions in light elements. For the two sources in which a spin-down measure is available, the values of B obtained from spin-down assuming magnetodipolar braking are in reasonable agreement with those inferred from the line energy. Once the nature of the lines has been settled and if an independent measurement of the magnetic field is available (e.g. through spin-down), a measure of the gravitational redshift will be possible, paving the way to the simultaneous determination of both the star mass and radius. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18984956 | 1,398,589 |
726,302 | "P. multocida" expresses a range of virulence factors including a polysaccharide capsule and the variable carbohydrate surface molecule, lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The capsule has been shown in strains of serogroups A and B to help resist phagocytosis by host immune cells and capsule type A has also been shown to help resist complement-mediated lysis. The LPS produced by "P. multocida" consists of a hydrophobic lipid A molecule (that anchors the LPS to the outer membrane), an inner core, and an outer core, both consisting of a series of sugars linked in a specific way. There is no O-antigen on the LPS and the molecule is similar to LPS produced by "Haemophilus influenzae" and the lipooligosaccharide of "Neisseria meningitidis". A study in a serovar 1 strain showed that a full-length LPS molecule was essential for the bacteria to be fully virulent in chickens. Strains that cause atrophic rhinitis in pigs are unique as they also have "P. multocida" toxin (PMT) residing on a bacteriophage. PMT is responsible for the twisted snouts observed in pigs infected with the bacteria. This toxin activates Rho GTPases, which bind and hydrolyze GTP, and are important in actin stress fiber formation. Formation of stress fibers may aid in the endocytosis of "P. multocida". The host cell cycle is also modulated by the toxin, which can act as an intracellular mitogen. "P. multocida" has been observed invading and replicating inside host amoebae, causing lysis in the host. "P. multocida" will grow at on blood or chocolate agar, HS agar, but will not grow on MacConkey agar. Colony growth is accompanied by a characteristic "mousy" odor due to metabolic products. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8770937 | 725,921 |
1,228,729 | At the end of 1920, Macleod was approached by Frederick Grant Banting, a young Canadian physician who had the idea of curing diabetes using an extract from a pancreas whose functioning had been disrupted. Macleod was not enthusiastic, because (unlike Banting) he knew about unsuccessful experiments in this direction by other researchers. He thought it more likely that the nervous system had a crucial role in regulating blood glucose concentration. Even though Banting had virtually no experience of physiology, he managed to convince Macleod to lend him laboratory space during a vacation in Scotland that summer. In addition to the laboratory, Macleod provided experimental animals and his student Charles Herbert Best, who worked as a demonstrator. Macleod also advised on project planning and the use of analytical techniques, and assisted with the operation on the first dog. While Macleod was away, Banting and Best achieved a breakthrough: they isolated an internal secretion of the pancreas and succeeded in reducing the blood sugar level of another dog, whose pancreas had been surgically removed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16164 | 1,228,067 |
311,751 | Cryptonomicon is a 1999 novel by American author Neal Stephenson, set in two different time periods. One group of characters are World War II-era Allied codebreakers and tactical-deception operatives affiliated with the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park (UK), and disillusioned Axis military and intelligence figures. The second narrative is set in the late 1990s, with characters that are (in part) descendants of those of the earlier time period, who employ cryptologic, telecom, and computer technology to build an underground data haven in the fictional Sultanate of Kinakuta. Their goal is to facilitate anonymous Internet banking using electronic money and (later) digital gold currency, with a long-term objective to distribute Holocaust Education and Avoidance Pod (HEAP) media for instructing genocide-target populations on defensive warfare. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21861 | 311,583 |
197,122 | While the size of a very small fraction of these asteroids is known to better than 1%, from radar observations, from images of the asteroid surface, or from stellar occultations, the diameter of the vast majority of near Earth asteroids has only been estimated on the basis of their brightness and a representative asteroid surface reflectivity or albedo, which is commonly assumed to be 14%. Such indirect size estimates are uncertain by over a factor of 2 for individual asteroids, since asteroid albedos can range at least as low as 5% and as high as 30%. This makes the volume of those asteroids uncertain by a factor of 8, and their mass by at least as much, since their assumed density also has its own uncertainty. Using this crude method, an absolute magnitude of 17.75 roughly corresponds to a diameter of and an absolute magnitude of 22.0 to a diameter of . Diameters of intermediate precision, better than from an assumed albedo but not nearly as precise as direct measurements, can be obtained from the combination of reflected light and thermal infrared emission, using a thermal model of the asteroid. In May 2016, technologist Nathan Myhrvold questioned the precision of such asteroid diameter estimates arising from thermal modeling of measurements by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and NEOWISE missions. The original version of his criticism itself faced criticism for its methodology and did not pass peer review, but a revised version was subsequently published. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21626 | 197,021 |
2,177,591 | The Titans traveled to Starkville, Mississippi to go up against the Mississippi State Bulldogs of the Southeastern Conference. The Bulldogs opened the game with an 18–12 lead just 4 minutes into the game, but the Titans fought back to take a 22–18 lead with 12:44 left in the half. Mississippi State went on the offensive, taking a commanding 40–32 lead at half-time. Detroit avoided foul trouble to help stay in the game, not allowing Mississippi State a single free throw attempt until the second half. Detroit opened up the final frame by making 9 of 14 shots from the field in the first 8 minutes, bringing the Titans within a single basket at 57–54. The Bulldogs pushed the lead back to 10 at 66–56 with 8:42 left in the game, but the Titans did not go away, hitting several layups and jump shots down the stretch to be down by just 3 once again at 76–73 with just over a minute to play. The Titans missed many key free throws in the final 1:14. The Bulldogs made 6-of-8 in the last 28 seconds of the game to put Detroit away 82–76. Jason Calliste led the Titans in scoring with 20 points. Ray McCallum, Jr. and Chase Simon scored 16 and 17 points apiece, but combined a 0 for 9 effort on 3-Pointers. Eli Holman led the team in rebounds for the fourth straight game, grabbing 10 against the Bulldogs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28677693 | 2,176,346 |
1,315,107 | The femur is large and sigmoid, with a smooth, rectangular femoral head. Like "Tawa" (but unlike coelophysoids), the anterior trochanter has the appearance of a bulbous ridge, not separated from the shaft by a cleft. However, "Chindesaurus" lacks a groove at the top of its femoral head, possesses a trochanteric shelf, and has a dorsolateral trochanter which is low and rounded, traits which contrast with "Tawa". The fourth trochanter is low and located further distally than that of "Herrerasaurus". The lower end of the femur has two distinct condyles which are triangular in cross-section. The tibia is very similar to that of "Tawa" in several respects. For example, the rear face of the upper end of the tibia is nearly straight, with the exception of a large notch on its medial half and a smaller notch slightly lateral to it. Moreover, the cnemial crest running down the front of the tibia is quite low, <35% the total anteroposterior thickness of the bone. Finally, the lower end of the tibia has a large and triangular posterolateral process which extends downwards and outwards from the rest of the bone, a trait also shared by "Lesothosaurus" and "Guaibasaurus". The front edge of the astragalus has a deep and broad cleft which subdivides the bone vertically. This cleft actually extends onto the lower surface of the bone, giving it a characteristic "glutealiform" shape shared with "Tawa". There is a distinct ascending process on the upper and outer part of the astragalus, surrounded by a system of pits, ridges, and depressions which connect to the tibia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4353939 | 1,314,386 |
3,954 | More than 2300 years after his death, Aristotle remains one of the most influential people who ever lived. He contributed to almost every field of human knowledge then in existence, and he was the founder of many new fields. According to the philosopher Bryan Magee, "it is doubtful whether any human being has ever known as much as he did". Among countless other achievements, Aristotle was the founder of formal logic, pioneered the study of zoology, and left every future scientist and philosopher in his debt through his contributions to the scientific method. Taneli Kukkonen, writing in "The Classical Tradition", observes that his achievement in founding two sciences is unmatched, and his reach in influencing "every branch of intellectual enterprise" including Western ethical and political theory, theology, rhetoric and literary analysis is equally long. As a result, Kukkonen argues, any analysis of reality today "will almost certainly carry Aristotelian overtones ... evidence of an exceptionally forceful mind." Jonathan Barnes wrote that "an account of Aristotle's intellectual afterlife would be little less than a history of European thought". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=308 | 3,954 |
1,453,199 | On 16 July 2014, the organising committee announced that some national teams had missed the 1 June deadline to submit their team line-ups. They included Central African Republic, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Cambodia, Oman, Pakistan and Senegal in the open, as well as Afghanistan and Russia in the women's section. The organisers also stated that the regulations regarding the deadline applied to all, and that no exceptions would be allowed. Particularly surprising was the disqualification of Russia's women's team, as they were reigning champions from the previous Chess Olympiad. The chess media linked the missed deadline with Kateryna Lagno's circumstance of changing federations, and reported that the Russian Chess Federation allowed the deadline to pass, while awaiting her transfer from Ukraine to Russia to become official. It was alleged that Kateryna Lagno was needed to strengthen Russia's women's team following the retirement of Nadezhda and Tatiana Kosintseva. FIDE criticised the decision of the organisers not to allow these teams to compete at the Olympiad. FIDE Vice President Israel Gelfer said that the ultimate decision of allowing teams to compete lays in the hands of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. In addition, he implicated Garry Kasparov, and advocated cancelling the Olympiad. Gelfer said that the organising committee was influenced by people who are working for Kasparov, and that they were using it for election purposes. Kasparov responded promptly, and characterized Gelfer's statements as 'bizarre', stating that to punish 175 teams for the mistakes of one was an absurd arrogance. He also criticised FIDE for allowing the Russian Chess Federation to violate the rules and receive an exception, and said that it was a real threat to the global chess community. On 21 July, the organising committee informed FIDE President Ilyumzhinov that, while they stood by the interpretation of the regulations, they would allow the teams who had missed the 1 June deadline to play. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29031958 | 1,452,382 |
528,926 | The problem of computational expense can be alleviated through simplification schemes. In the "density fitting" scheme, the four-index integrals used to describe the interaction between electron pairs are reduced to simpler two- or three-index integrals, by treating the charge densities they contain in a simplified way. This reduces the scaling with respect to basis set size. Methods employing this scheme are denoted by the prefix "df-", for example the density fitting MP2 is df-MP2 (many authors use lower-case to prevent confusion with DFT). In the "local approximation", the molecular orbitals are first localized by a unitary rotation in the orbital space (which leaves the reference wave function invariant, i.e., not an approximation) and subsequently interactions of distant pairs of localized orbitals are neglected in the correlation calculation. This sharply reduces the scaling with molecular size, a major problem in the treatment of biologically-sized molecules. Methods employing this scheme are denoted by the prefix "L", e.g. LMP2. Both schemes can be employed together, as in the df-LMP2 and df-LCCSD(T0) methods. In fact, df-LMP2 calculations are faster than df-Hartree–Fock calculations and thus are feasible in nearly all situations in which also DFT is. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4683300 | 528,652 |
1,874,078 | Hirudin derivatives are all bivalent DTIs, they block both the active site and exosite 1 in an irreversible 1:1 stoichiometric complex. The active site is the binding site for the globular amino-terminal domain and exosite 1 is the binding site for the acidic carboxy-terminal domain of hirudin. Native hirudin, a 65-amino-acid polypeptide, is produced in the parapharyngeal glands of medicinal leeches. Hirudins today are produced by recombinant biotechnology using yeast. These recombinant hirudins lack a sulfate group at Tyr-63 and are therefore called desulfatohirudins. They have a 10-fold lower binding affinity to thrombin compared to native hirudin, but remain a highly specific inhibitor of thrombin and have an inhibition constant for thrombin in the picomolar range. Renal clearance and degradation account for the most part for the systemic clearance of desulfatohirudins and there is accumulation of the drug in patients with chronic kidney disease. These drugs should not be used in patients with impaired renal function, since there is no specific antidote available to reverse the effects. Hirudins are given parenterally, usually by intravenous injection. 80% of hirudin is distributed in the extravascular compartment and only 20% is found in the plasma. The most common desulfatohirudins today are lepirudin and desirudin. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37120076 | 1,873,001 |
1,514,004 | Long-term mitigation strategies need to be implemented to help monitor the species richness in areas such as the Arctic to understand the trends in biodiversity and how different local strategies that have been implemented either benefit or harm the ecosystem (Gill 2011). A mitigation strategy that can be beneficial in the protection of local biodiversity and reducing the introduction of NIS is making activities such as transportation that bring the NIS to the Arctic more efficient. (Dafforn 2011). Antifouling technologies involve specialized paints being applied to a ship’s hull to slow marine growth on the underwater area (Tripathi 2016). This technology has become more popular in recent years. These paints incorporate different biocides such as lead and copper and can help prevent settlement of different NIS on vehicles that transport goods to Arctic regions (Dafforn 2011). This process indirectly lowers the amount of NIS transferred to the Arctic by humans. This, however, does introduce chemicals into the marine environment causing various issues, which is why the use, quantity, and location of the biocides must be thoroughly considered and mitigated. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11180149 | 1,513,153 |
207,784 | Class-D amplifiers work by generating a train of rectangular pulses of fixed amplitude but varying width and separation, or varying number per unit time, representing the amplitude variations of the analog audio input signal. The modulator clock can synchronize with an incoming digital audio signal, thus removing the necessity to convert the signal to analog. The output of the modulator is then used to gate the output transistors on and off alternately. Great care is taken to ensure that the pair of transistors are never allowed to conduct together, as this would cause a short circuit between the supply rails through the transistors. Since the transistors are either fully "on" or fully "off", they spend very little time in the linear region and dissipate very little power. This is the main reason for their high efficiency. A simple low-pass filter consisting of an inductor and a capacitor provides a path for the low frequencies of the audio signal, leaving the high-frequency pulses behind. In cost-sensitive applications the output filter is sometimes omitted. The circuit then relies on the inductance of the loudspeaker to keep the HF component from heating up the voice coil. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2166803 | 207,677 |
1,785,447 | Sordaria fimicola is an ascomycete fungus that grows well on nutrient agar, dung, and in decaying matter in soil. As an ascoymcete it has a sexual teleomorph form and an asexual anamorph form. S. fimicola typically follow the life cycle of an obligate dung fungi; sexual reproduction that is obligate to herbivore dung after passage through the herbivore’s gastrointestinal tract . Following meiosis on dung, ascospores are discharged and stick onto plant surfaces where they are thought to remain epiphyllous. S. fimicola grows septate hyphae which at the macro level look like small dark brown fibers forming a fluffy sheet over the substrate. Small black spots will form when sexual reproduction occurs, as these spots are the location of the ascii. Additionally, there are tan and grey mutant strains of S. fimicola. S. fimicola grows best in carbon rich substrates, but it also needs access to nitrogen. Research has shown that S. fimicola grows best with a carbon:nitrogen ratio between 5:1 and 10:1, S. fimicola grown under these conditions produce markedly more perithecium than those with higher carbon ratios or higher nitrogen ratios. S. fimicola grows well in a laboratory setting and because of that it is often used in introductory biology laboratories and also as a model organism for research. S. fimicola is also a good tool for teaching meiosis as it quickly produces diploid perithecium which undergoes meiosis to produce ascii with ordered linear tetrads of haploid ascospores. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1301158 | 1,784,443 |
1,976,218 | Majumder received her Bachelor of Science degree from Tufts University in engineering in 2013, as well as her Master of Public Health from Tufts University School of Medicine. She then attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology for both her Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in systems engineering under the supervision of Richard Larson. For her Master's thesis work, she utilized publicly available data to model and characterize the MERS epidemic in Saudi Arabia. Her Ph.D. thesis focused on modeling disease transmission dynamics during real-world outbreaks, taking into account that there is heterogeneity within populations, so some individuals are more likely than others to transmit an infection. Her dissertation ended in policy recommendations for those working in public health to improve access to infection case data, so that forecasters can better characterize disease transmission, and to think about the basic reproduction number of an infectious disease as a mean of a random variable. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=63513670 | 1,975,080 |
1,612,868 | Virions of the genus "Macluravirus" are non-enveloped, flexuous, and filamentous, measuring 650-660 nm lengthwise with a 10-12 nm diameter and pinwheel-type inclusion bodies relating it to the family of potyviruses. The CdMV genomes are single-stranded linear positive-sense RNA as reported by Jacob and Usha (2001). As a result of amplification, cloning, sequencing and gene expression, it can be reported that CdMV contains ~8.5kb of genomes, presence coding regions for partial Cytoplasmic Inclusion, CdMV encoded proteins: complete Nuclear Inclusion b (NIb) gene in the genome which is the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), Nuclear Inclusion a (NIa) Protease (Nia 1 protease) and a complete 6K2 genome-linked viral protein. The coat protein of potyvirus is a suitable carrier to display the epitopes of the pathogens. The sequencing of coat proteins and 3’ UTR regions of different isolated strains of CdMV from different cardamom-growing geographical regions in India revealed that there are three different CdMV strains causing disease on the basis of severity of symptoms on young and matured leaves, transmission efficiency, effect on plant height and leaf area. The strains varied in the N-terminal region of coat protein in their sequence. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62416074 | 1,611,963 |
1,642,472 | Of special interest is the case where priming effects are increasing even though prime visibility is decreasing. Such opposite time-coursse of priming and visual awareness of the prime clearly show that both processes rely on different mechanisms. This finding could be confirmed in many further experiments revealing numerous dissociations between masking and priming. The independence of priming and visual awareness clearly contradicts the traditional notion that effects of unconscious perception merely reflect some residual processing ability under very unfavorable viewing conditions, something that remains after a prime stimulus has been degraded so severely that conscious awareness of it has decreased below some "threshold". This conception has often led to sharp criticism of research on unconscious or "subliminal" perception, but it is probably wrong on a basic level. Instead, motor activation by masked primes is obviously independent of processes of backward masking, provided that visibility is controlled only by the masking stimulus while the prime stimulus remains unchanged. In other words: for a short time and under suitable experimental conditions, visually masked (invisible) stimuli can influence motor responses just as effectively as visible ones. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30601657 | 1,641,545 |
833,552 | Two scientists at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (KWI) in Berlin-Dahlem took up the challenge of finding the missing isotope. Otto Hahn had graduated from the University of Marburg as an organic chemist, but had been a post-doctoral researcher at University College London under Sir William Ramsay, and under Rutherford at McGill University, where he had studied radioactive isotopes. In 1906, he returned to Germany, where he became an assistant to Emil Fischer at the University of Berlin. At McGill he had become accustomed to working closely with a physicist, so he teamed up with Lise Meitner, who had received her doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1906, and had then moved to Berlin to study physics under Max Planck at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität. Meitner found Hahn, who was her own age, less intimidating than older, more distinguished colleagues. Hahn and Meitner moved to the recently established Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in 1913, and by 1920 had become the heads of their own laboratories there, with their own students, research programs and equipment. The new laboratories offered new opportunities, as the old ones had become too contaminated with radioactive substances to investigate feebly radioactive substances. They developed a new technique for separating the tantalum group from pitchblende, which they hoped would speed the isolation of the new isotope. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64011351 | 833,103 |
54,883 | Hume offered his view on the best type of society in an essay titled "Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth", which lays out what he thought was the best form of government. He hoped that, "in some future age, an opportunity might be afforded of reducing the theory to practice, either by a dissolution of some old government, or by the combination of men to form a new one, in some distant part of the world". He defended a strict separation of powers, decentralisation, extending the franchise to anyone who held property of value and limiting the power of the clergy. The system of the Swiss militia was proposed as the best form of protection. Elections were to take place on an annual basis and representatives were to be unpaid. Political philosophers Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey, writing of Hume's thoughts about "the wise statesman", note that he "will bear a reverence to what carries the marks of age." Also, if he wishes to improve a constitution, his innovations will take account of the "ancient fabric", in order not to disturb society. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7925 | 54,860 |
661,401 | Colostrum is the first form of milk produced by lactating mammals. Both Greek and Roman medical texts prescribe the use of a variety of substances, of varying medical and religious significance. Several substances, such as sulfur, asphalt and animal excrement, were associated with the practice of human purification. The practice of using a woman's breast milk as a medicine has very early roots in Egyptian medical texts. In several such texts there are references to the use of the milk of a woman who has given birth to a male child. This practice is said to be based on depictions in several statues of the goddess Isis breastfeeding her son, the god Horus. Both Egyptian and Greek texts state that the milk used for medicinal purposes should be strictly from a woman who has borne a male child. The treatments using breast milk differed vastly between Greek and Roman culture. In Greek medicine, milk was very rarely actually consumed. Instead, it was used in recipes for ointments and washes that would treat burns and other skin-related maladies. These treatments were exclusively given to women, as women's bodies were viewed as "polluted" in some sense. In stark contrast, the Roman use of colostrum was more widespread and varied. Stories suggest that adults drinking breast milk was viewed as socially acceptable, but was not common unless used for treatment. The milk was instead ingested by the patient, and the treatment was given to both men and women, which then allowed the views of the female body to be viewed as analogous compared to their male peers, rather than as the opposites they have been for centuries before. In general, while not every single fear about the changing medical views of female physiology went away, the Romans then seemed less concerned about the so-called "pollution" of a woman's body and therefore need to have the women have special requirements needed for "purification." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9543979 | 661,056 |
1,659,491 | Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale (born 1967) is currently the Secretary for Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India. He joined National Institute of immunology after conducting his postdoctoral training at Stanford University, He was the director of Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology from 2009 to 2016. Gokhale is known for his studies on the metabolic diversity of pathogens. He is credited with the discovery of a family of Long-chain Fatty acyl-AMP ligases (FAAL) and his studies assisted in the elucidation of "biochemical crosstalk" between fatty acid synthases and polyketide synthases in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He holds US and Indian patents for his invention of "Method to Modulate Pigmentation Process in the Melanocytes of Skin". An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science, he is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (2007) and the Indian National Science Academy (2014). The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2006, for his contributions to biological sciences. He received the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology in 2009. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52074485 | 1,658,558 |
672,940 | The eggs and young are similar to those of frogs, but the offspring differ from both frogs and other lungfishes by the absence of external gills during early development. Within the egg, head structures and pigmentation start to appear by day 17. They hatch after three to four weeks, and resemble tadpoles. The young fish are slow-growing, reportedly reaching after 110 days, and about after 8 months. During the first week, it lies on its side, hiding in the weeds, and moving only when stimulated by touch. It will swim spontaneously, and often retreat back into the gelatinous envelope when disturbed. Newly hatched larvae develop a ciliary current over their skin and gill surfaces. This is believed to either provide respiratory exchange across the skin and gills without necessitating any movements of the jaw or brachial apparatus, or to keep the skin of the unprotected larvae free of debris, parasites, and predatory protozoans. Larvae are reported not to feed for two to three weeks while the yolk is still present. By the time the yolk is fully used, a spiral valve has developed in the intestine and the fish starts to feed. The young can grow about per month under optimal conditions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=617256 | 672,588 |
1,368,502 | GluDHs are ubiquitous enzymes that occupy an important branch-point between carbon and nitrogen metabolism. Both nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) [EC 1.4.1.2] and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) dependent GluDH [EC 1.4.1.4] enzymes are present in "Plasmodia"; the NAD-dependent GluDH is relatively unstable and not useful for diagnostic purposes. Glutamate dehydrogenase provides an oxidizable carbon source used for the production of energy as well as a reduced electron carrier, NADH. Glutamate is a principal amino donor to other amino acids in subsequent transamination reactions. The multiple roles of glutamate in nitrogen balance make it a gateway between free ammonia and the amino groups of most amino acids. Its crystal structure is published. The GluDH activity in "P.vivax", "P.ovale" and "P. malariae" has never been tested, but given the importance of GluDH as a branch point enzyme, every cell must have a high concentration of GluDH. It is well known that enzymes with a high molecular weight (like GluDH) have many isozymes, which allows strain differentiations (given the right monoclonal antibody). The host produces antibodies against the parasitic enzyme indicating a low sequence identity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9355054 | 1,367,746 |
592,087 | There are criticisms of the methodology used to determine the reliability and specificity of penile plethysmography. One such criticism is that while penile plethysmography is said to be important for being more objective than a test subject’s subjective reports on sexual arousal, the argument for penile plethysmography being a more reliable gauge of sexual arousal than vaginal plethysmography is still that there is a higher correspondence on average between what the test subjects report and what the instruments observe in male subjects than in female subjects. There is a criticism of this discrepancy for lacking consistency in the standards of whether or not subjective reports are useful. There is also criticism regarding the possibility of sampling bias being greater in male subjects of penile plethysmography than in female subjects of vaginal plethysmography, males being generally more aware of their physical sexual responses than females in most cultures may cause the male volunteers to be almost exclusively individuals who have category specific erections due to those with nonspecific erections fearing erection in taboo contexts and therefore not signing up for the studies. This effect may explain apparent male specificity as a result of methodological bias. The difference between tests of volunteers and tests of convicted or suspected sex offenders in penile plethysmography results may be caused by the sex offender group often effectively lacking the choice not to volunteer, without difference in erection patterns from the average population. One criticism of reoffending studies is that cultural attitudes that assume that men are sexually attracted to what they phallometrically respond to may cause men with no actual sexual interest in children to identify as pedophiles due to knowing that they phallometrically respond to them, making them more likely to be convicted again. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=410384 | 591,785 |
1,179,292 | Solar cells started in 1876 with William Grylls Adams along with an undergraduate student of his. A French scientist, by the name of Edmond Becquerel, first discovered the photovoltaic effect in the summer of 1839. He theorized that certain elements on the periodic table, such as silicon, reacted to the exposure of sunlight in very unusual ways. Solar power is created when solar radiation is converted to heat or electricity. English electrical engineer Willoughby Smith, between 1873 and 1876, discovered that when selenium is exposed to light, it produced a high amount of electricity. The use of selenium was highly inefficient, but it proved Becquerel's theory that light could be converted into electricity through the use of various semi-metals on the periodic table, that were later labelled as photo-conductive material. By 1953, Calvin Fuller, Gerald Pearson, and Daryl Chapin discovered the use of silicon to produce solar cells was extremely efficient and produced a net charge that far exceeded that of selenium. Today solar power has many uses, from heating, electrical production, thermal processes, water treatment and storage of power that is highly prevalent in the world of renewable energy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54269557 | 1,178,668 |
475,871 | In October 2002, the university opened its new Health Sciences Building, a facility that houses laboratories, auditoriums, classrooms, a student union, a bookstore, and the Feet First Museum. In July 2003, the university opened its first phase of student housing, making the institution a residential campus for the first time in its history. In the summer of 2003, the university completed two new facilities designed to provide the latest in medical technology to students. The Education and Evaluation Center and the John J. Sheinin, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., Gross Anatomy Laboratory provide state-of-the-art equipment and multimedia resources by which students participate in their training. These facilities promote the use of integrated technologies and novel approaches to the study of human anatomy, the practice of physical examination, and the art of taking a patient history. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1403791 | 475,634 |
40,018 | U-M athletes have starred in Major League Baseball, the National Football League and National Basketball Association as well as other professional sports. Notable among recent players is Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Three players have won college football's Heisman Trophy, awarded to the player considered the best in the nation: Tom Harmon (1940), Desmond Howard (1991) and Charles Woodson (1997). Professional golfer John Schroeder and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps also attended the University of Michigan, with the latter studying Sports Marketing and Management. Phelps also swam competitively for Club Wolverine, a swimming club associated with the university. National Hockey League players Marty Turco, Chris Summers, Max Pacioretty, Carl Hagelin, Dylan Larkin, Zach Hyman, Brendan Morrison, Jack Johnson, and Michael Cammalleri all played for U-M's ice hockey team. Baseball Hall of Famers George Sisler and Barry Larkin also played baseball at the university. Several team owners have also been alumni, including multiple-team owner Bill Davidson (NBA Detroit Pistons, NHL Tampa Bay Lightning, WNBA Detroit Shock, among others) and NFL owners Stephen M. Ross (Miami Dolphins), Preston Robert Tisch (New York Giants), and Ralph Wilson (Buffalo Bills). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31740 | 40,003 |
1,296,378 | Something as complex or subtle as a fight breaking out or an employee breaking a safety procedure is not possible for a rule based analytics to detect or discriminate. With behavioral analytics, it is. Places where people are moving and working do not present a problem. However, the A.I. may spot many things that appear anomalous but are innocent in nature. For example, if students at a campus walk on a plaza, that will be learned as normal. If a couple of students decided to carry a large sheet outdoors flapping in the wind, that might indeed trigger an alert. The monitoring officer would be alerted to look at his or her monitor and would see that the event is not a threat and would then ignore it. The degree of deviation from norm that triggers an alert can be set so that only the most abnormal things are reported. However, this still constitutes a new way of human and A.I. interaction not typified by the traditional alarm industry mindset. This is because there will be many false alarms that may nevertheless be valuable to send to a human officer who can quickly look and determine if the scene requires a response. In this sense, it is a "tap on the shoulder" from the A.I. to have the human look at something. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48653319 | 1,295,667 |
1,239,053 | In 1901, Langley challenged the dominant hypothesis that drugs act at nerve endings by demonstrating that nicotine acted at sympathetic ganglia even after the degeneration of the severed preganglionic nerve endings. In 1905 he introduced the concept of a receptive substance on the surface of skeletal muscle that mediated the action of a drug. Langley postulated that these receptive substances were different in different species (citing the fact that nicotine-induced muscle paralysis in mammals was absent in crayfish). Around the same time, Ehrlich was trying to understand the basis of selectivity of agents. He theorized that selectivity was the basis of a preferential distribution of lead and dyes in different body tissues. However, he later modified the theory in order to explain immune reactions and the selectivity of the immune response. Thinking that selectivity was derived from interaction with the tissues themselves, Ehrlich envisaged molecules extending from cells that the body could use to distinguish and mount an immune response to foreign objects. However, it was only after Ahlquist demonstrated the differential effects of adrenaline on two distinct receptor populations, that the theory of receptor-mediated drug interactions gained acceptance. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13991735 | 1,238,386 |
2,040,777 | The observatory's role as a VLBI station is unique in central/eastern Europe. International collaboration and involvement in various European research projects is the major activity of this department. The research concentrates on observations and theoretical interpretation of physical processes in compact active regions of radio galaxies and quasars, observational cosmology, the timing of pulsars, the search for new planetary systems and Solar System studies. In addition, the development of instrumentation for radio astronomy (ultra low noise receivers, spectrometers, frequency converters, digital electronics, control systems) is also a significant part of activities in the observatory. From 1997 to 2019, the Department of Radio Astronomy was a part of what was known in publications as the Toruń Centre for Astronomy, at the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Informatics of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. From 1998, the department undertook the additional function of a National Facility with a major aims of serving Polish astronomers and emphasizing international cooperation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5156607 | 2,039,597 |
315,121 | Since 1988, Hofstadter has been the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Comparative Literature at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he directs the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition which consists of himself and his graduate students, forming the "Fluid Analogies Research Group" (FARG). He was initially appointed to the Indiana University's Computer Science Department faculty in 1977, and at that time he launched his research program in computer modeling of mental processes (which he called "artificial intelligence research", a label he has since dropped in favor of "cognitive science research"). In 1984, he moved to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he was hired as a professor of psychology and was also appointed to the Walgreen Chair for the Study of Human Understanding. In 1988 he returned to Bloomington as "College of Arts and Sciences Professor" in both cognitive science and computer science. He was also appointed adjunct professor of history and philosophy of science, philosophy, comparative literature, and psychology, but has said that his involvement with most of those departments is nominal. In 1988 Hofstadter received the "In Praise of Reason" award, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's highest honor. In April 2009 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 2010 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8758 | 314,952 |
664,640 | The beginning of voltammetry was facilitated by the discovery of polarography in 1922 by the Nobel Prize–winning Czech chemist Jaroslav Heyrovský. Early voltammetric techniques had many problems, limiting their viability for everyday use in analytical chemistry. In polarography, these problems included the fact that mercury is oxidized at a potential that is more positive than +0.2 Volt, making it harder to analyze the results for the analytes in the positive region of the potential. Another problem included the residual current obtained from the charging of the large capacitance of the electrode surface. When Heyrovsky first recorded the first dependence on the current flowing through the dropping mercury electrode on the applied potential in 1922, he took point-by-point measurements and plotted a current-voltage curve. This was considered to be the first polarogram. In order to facilitate this process, he constructed what is now known as a polarograph with M. Shikata, which enabled him to record photographically the same curve in a matter of hours. He gave recognition to the importance of potential and its control and also recognized the opportunities of measuring the limiting currents. He was also an important part of the introduction of dropping mercury electrode as a modern-day tool. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2430192 | 664,293 |
877,646 | Sterilization is also an option for low-income families. Public funding for contraceptive services come from a variety of federal and state sources in the United States. Until the mid-1990s, "[f]ederal funds for contraceptive services [were] provided under Title X of the Public Health Service Act, Title XIX of the Social Security (Medicaid), and two block-grant programs, Maternal and Child Health (MCH) and Social Services." The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families was another federal block granted created in 1996 and is the main federal source of financial "welfare" aid. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services administers Title X, which is the sole federal program dedicated to family planning. Under Title X, public and nonprofit private agencies receive grants to operate clinics that provide care largely to the uninsured and the underinsured. Unlike Title X, Medicaid is an entitlement program that is jointly funded by federal and state governments to "provide medical care to various low-income populations." Medicaid provided the majority of publicly funded sterilizations. In 1979, regulations were implemented on sterilizations funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. The regulations included "a complex procedure to ensure women's informed consent, a 30-day waiting period between consent and the procedure, and a prohibition on sterilization of anyone younger than 21 or who is mentally incompetent." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69688 | 877,184 |
1,906,655 | Bone malrotation refers to the situation that results when a bone heals out of rotational alignment from another bone, or part of bone. It often occurs as the result of a surgical complication after a fracture where intramedullary nailing (IMN) occurs, especially in the femur and tibial bones, but can also occur genetically at birth. The severity of this complication is often neglected due to its complexity to detect and treat, yet if left untreated, bone malrotation can significantly impact regular bodily functioning, and even lead to severe arthritis. Detection throughout history has become more advanced and accurate, ranging from clinical assessment to ultrasounds to CT (computed tomography) scans. Treatment can include an osteotomy, a major surgical procedure where bones are cut and realigned correctly, or compensatory methods, where individuals learn to externally or internally rotate their limb to compensate for the rotation. Further research is currently being examined in this area to reduce occurrences of malrotation, including detailed computer navigation to improve visual accuracy during surgery. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60722451 | 1,905,559 |
1,923,517 | Some host-associated microbes produce compounds that prevent biofouling and regulate microbiome assembly and maintenance in many marine organisms, including sponges, macroalgae, and corals. For example, tropical corals harbor diverse bacteria in their surface mucus layer that produce quorum-sensing inhibitors and other antibacterial compounds as a defense against colonization and infection by potential microbial pathogens. Epiphytic bacteria of marine macroalgae excrete a diverse chemical arsenal capable of selectively shaping further bacterial colonization and deterring the settlement of biofouling marine invertebrates such as bryozoans. As in corals, these diverse, microbially secreted compounds include not only bactericidal and bacteriostatic antibiotics but also compounds like halogenated furanones, cyclic dipeptides, and acyl-homoserine lactone mimics that disrupt bacterial quorum sensing and inhibit biofilm formation. The bacteria likely are able to utilize the carbon-rich exudates from their hosts. For example, in the case of giant kelp, the alga emits approximately 20% of primary production as dissolved organic carbon. Whereas these prior examples illustrate how the microbiomes can protect hosts from surface colonization, a similar phenomenon has also been observed internally in the shipworm Bankia setacea, in which symbionts produce a boronated tartrolon antibiotic thought to keep the wood-digesting cecum clear of bacterial foulants. By producing antimicrobial compounds, these microbes are able to defend their niche space to prevent other organisms from crowding them out. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62893752 | 1,922,414 |
1,776,174 | Named High-Commissioner of the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (Atomic Energy Commission, CEA) in 1951—to replace Frédéric Joliot-Curie dismissed because he was opposed to military research—, Francis Perrin joined a lobby of about a dozen people, composed of politicians like Chaban-Delmas, Bourguès-Maunoury and Félix Gaillard, of military officers, like the generals Ailleret, Gallois, and Crépin, of technocrats like Pierre Guillaumat and Raoul Dautry or of scientists like Yves Rocard and Bertrand Goldschmidt, who revealed themselves to be extremely effective. This lobby imposed on successive governments of the Fourth Republic an intensive research program to permit France to deploy nuclear weapons without any real political control from outside France. Secret departments were made up within the CEA to implement this policy as of 1954. General Charles de Gaulle was informed of the work during his "Crossing of the Desert" (1953/58), in particular by Chaban-Delmas. When de Gaulle returned to power in 1958, the progress of the work was such that the date of the first nuclear test was already fixed at 1960. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=899434 | 1,775,175 |
1,689,361 | One drawback of the MPAR, when compared to the currently-deployed NEXRAD radars, was that MPAR did not support dual-polarization—that is, the polar orientation of the radar beam. Dual-polarization technology exploits the fact that falling rain droplets have a flattened shape as a result of air resistance, and thus return a different signal in the horizontal plane than in the vertical. Similarly, other objects—snow, hail, birds and insects, smoke—also reflect the radar beam differently in the two planes. These differences are measured by the radar, computer algorithms process the data, and produce conclusions about the nature of the detected precipitation. Polarimetric radar provides improvements in tornado detection, rainfall rate measurements, precipitation type discrimination, and more. Dual-polarization capability was rolled out to the existing NEXRAD radars beginning in 2011, and was complete by April 2013. MPAR, being a 1970s design, did not have polarimetric capability and retrofitting it would have been costly, if not impossible. This limitation was addressed in the MPAR successor (see section below). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55354518 | 1,688,415 |
119,298 | Early plainchant, like much of Western music, is believed to have been distinguished by the use of the diatonic scale. Modal theory, which postdates the composition of the core chant repertory, arises from a synthesis of two very different traditions: the speculative tradition of numerical ratios and species inherited from ancient Greece and a second tradition rooted in the practical art of cantus. The earliest writings that deal with both theory and practice include the Enchiriadis group of treatises, which circulated in the late ninth century and possibly have their roots in an earlier, oral tradition. In contrast to the ancient Greek system of tetrachords (a collection of four continuous notes) that descend by two tones and a semitone, the Enchiriadis writings base their tone-system on a tetrachord that corresponds to the four finals of chant, D, E, F, and G. The disjunct tetrachords in the Enchiriadis system have been the subject of much speculation, because they do not correspond to the diatonic framework that became the standard Medieval scale (for example, there is a high F#, a note not recognized by later Medieval writers). A diatonic scale with a chromatically alterable b/b-flat was first described by Hucbald, who adopted the tetrachord of the finals (D, E, F, G) and constructed the rest of the system following the model of the Greek Greater and Lesser Perfect Systems. These were the first steps in forging a theoretical tradition that corresponded to chant. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=155469 | 119,249 |
1,446,791 | The steep descent near Owers' Corner to the Goldie River crossing at Uberi involved a steep ascent for the animals on the return trip. The 2/6th Field Company constructed a flying fox, which went into operation on 26 September. Descending , it was long, with an intermediate station. The empty tackle was returned by the weight of the cargo, which was up to . In late August, the 1st Light Horse Troop was reorganised as a pack transport section, with six sub sections. One prepared the loads, weighing them to ensure that there was on each side. The other five were each under the command of a non-commissioned officer, with five other ranks, three riding horses and ten to twelve pack horses or mules. With a call for more supplies to be delivered, the remount unit was recalled, and 29 other ranks were added from the 55th Infantry Battalion in September, bringing the total strength to one officer, 81 other ranks, 39 mules and 63 horses, and allowing four more sub sections to be formed. The 1st Independent Light Horse Troop struggled with epidemics of strangles and infectious nasal catarrh among horses imported from Australia, and the saddlery became increasingly worn until 60 new saddles arrived from Australia in September. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51118476 | 1,445,975 |
788,633 | Shortly after he became the ninth president in September 1987, Dr. Hazo W. Carter, Jr. began a 12-year quest to regain the college's land-grant status that had been transferred in the 1950s. Since "State" was the only institution to have the status removed, there was no precedent for recovering it. After this status was restored, a quest then began for West Virginia State to be designated a university, which became a reality in 2004; he became the first president to serve under the "university" status. These achievements, accompanied by two highly successful accreditation's by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and the addition of graduate programs, highlight his administration. In August 2011, the faculty voted no confidence in Carter's leadership, and Carter retired on June 30, 2012. He then became president emeritus until his death in February 2014. Under the leadership of Dr. Anthony L. Jenkins, WVSU expanded its outreach and public service to all 55 counties throughout WV, increased academic program offerings to include Engineering and Nursing, increased retention and dual enrollment course offerings. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1245250 | 788,209 |
453,251 | In March 2013, Giulio Fanti, professor of mechanical and thermal measurement at the University of Padua, conducted a battery of experiments on various threads that he believes were cut from the shroud during the 1988 carbon-14 dating, and concluded that they dated from 300 BC to 400 AD, potentially placing the Shroud within the lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth. Because of the manner in which Fanti obtained the shroud fibers, many are dubious about his findings. The shroud’s official custodian, Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia of Turin, told Vatican Insider: "As there is no degree of safety on the authenticity of the materials on which these experiments were carried out [on] the shroud cloth, the shroud's custodians cannot recognize any serious value to the results of these alleged experiments." Barrie Schwortz, a member of the original STURP investigation team, commented on Fanti’s theory: "But it would be more convincing if the basic research had first been presented in a professional, peer-reviewed journal. If you’re using old techniques in new ways, then you need to submit your approach to other scientists." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19016242 | 453,030 |
1,801,115 | The S1 (meaning "Step 1") is a chibi tank-like rover remotely controlled via Wi-Fi and app on Microsoft Windows, Apple iOS and Google Android mobile devices, with features such as spring-dampened beam axle front suspension, four omnidirectional 12-roller Mecanum wheels that allow agile strafing, a 1080p FVP camera mounted within a 2-axis gimbal turret "head", and the ability to "fight" other S1 units via either an infrared beam illuminator (which "tags" other objects like in laser tag) or a coaxial gel blaster gun (which shoots hydrogel beads with green LED illumination for tracer effects). Designed to be a mass-produced version of the Infantry robots used in the official competition, the S1 has a total of six sensor panels — four infrared/sound hybrid sensor on four sides of the chassis, and two infrared-only sensor on the lateral sides of the turret), which register hit points for match scoring. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62042120 | 1,800,106 |
213,228 | Foremost among Aalto's work from the early 1960s until his death in 1976 were his projects in Helsinki, in particular the huge town plan for the void in the centre of Helsinki adjacent to Töölö Bay and the vast railway yards, an area marked on the edges by significant buildings such as the National Museum and the main railway station, both by Eliel Saarinen. In his town plan, Aalto proposed a line of separate marble-clad buildings fronting the bay, which would house various cultural institutions, including a concert hall, opera, museum of architecture, and headquarters for the Finnish Academy. The scheme also extended into the Kamppi district with a series of tall office blocks. Aalto first presented his vision in 1961, but it went through various modifications during the early '60s. Only two fragments of the overall plan were realized: the Finlandia Hall concert hall (1976) fronting on Töölö Bay and an office building in the Kamppi district for the Helsinki Electricity Company (1975). Aalto also employed the Miesian formal language of geometric grids used in those buildings for other sites in Helsinki, including the Enso-Gutzeit headquarters building (1962), the Academic Bookstore (1962), and the SYP Bank building (1969). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2009 | 213,120 |
1,132,093 | Empirical investigations began in 1981 at the Pension Research Institute (PRI) at San Francisco State University. Dr. Hal Forsey and Dr. Frank Sortino were trying to apply Peter Fishburn's theory published in 1977 to Pension Fund Management. The result was an asset allocation model that PRI licensed Brian Rom to market in 1988. Mr. Rom coined the term PMPT and began using it to market portfolio optimization and performance measurement software developed by his company. These systems were built on the PRI downside risk algorithms. Sortino and Steven Satchell at Cambridge University co-authored the first book on PMPT. This was intended as a graduate seminar text in portfolio management. A more recent book by Sortino was written for practitioners. The first publication in a major journal was co-authored by Sortino and Dr. Robert van der Meer, then at Shell Oil Netherlands. The concept was popularized by numerous articles by Sortino in Pensions and Investments magazine and Dr. Sortino's Blog: www.pmpt.me. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10494334 | 1,131,501 |
2,112,929 | Although the amount and composition of aerosol particles in the marine atmosphere originate both from continental and oceanic sources and can be transported great distances, freshly emitted sea-spray aerosols (SSA) constitute one of the major sources of primary aerosols, especially from moderate and strong winds. The estimated global emission of pure sea-salt aerosols are on the order of 2,000-10,000 Tg per year. The mechanism by which this occurs starts with the generation of air bubbles in breaking waves, which then rise to the atmosphere and burst into hundreds of ultra-fine droplets ranging from 0.1-1.0 μm in diameter. Sea-spray aerosols are mostly composed of inorganic salts, such as sodium and chloride. However, these bubbles sometimes carry organic material found in seawater, forming secondary organic compounds (SOAs) such as dimethyl sulfide (DMS). This compound plays a key role in the NAAMES project. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62264747 | 2,111,714 |
663,869 | The windshield phenomenon – car windscreens covered in dead insects after even a short drive through a rural area in Europe and North America – seems also largely to have disappeared; in the 21st century, drivers find they can go an entire summer without noticing it. John Rawlins, head of invertebrate zoology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, speculated in 2006 that more aerodynamic car designs could explain the change. Entomologist Martin Sorg told "Science" in 2017: "I drive a Land Rover, with the aerodynamics of a refrigerator, and these days it stays clean." Rawlins added that land next to high-speed highways has become more manicured and therefore less attractive to insects. In 2004 the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds organised a Big Bug Count, issuing "splatometers" to about 40,000 volunteers to help count the number of insects colliding with their number plates. They found an average of one insect per 5 miles (8 km), which was less than expected. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=59924918 | 663,523 |
2,164,378 | In 1878 he formed his Partial Impact theory that he would try and prove for the rest of his life. The theory explains the appearance of bright new stars appearing in the sky due to two dark bodies colliding in space and forming a temporary bright third star as they move past each other. Locally it was thought to be a major astronomic breakthrough, though it failed to gain international support. Bickerton himself believed that the idea would eventually get acceptance from the scientific community, and pursued the theory throughout his life. Towards the end of the 19th century he was blamed for digressing into his own theory too often in class, and this was used as a reason by the Board of Governors to try to remove him from his position. Bickerton was often at odds with the Board due to his different teaching style, socialist views, and disrespect towards the church. In 1894 the Board launched an enquiry into how his department was run, but thanks to influential friends Bickerton kept his job. Unfortunately for him in 1902 the Board of Governors finally removed him from his job, Bickerton's social, political and religious views proved too different from those of the Board. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19957570 | 2,163,142 |
32,030 | In 1955, von Neumann was diagnosed with what was either bone, pancreatic or prostate cancer after he was examined by physicians following a fall, they discovered a mass growing near his collarbone. The cancer was possibly caused by his radiation exposure during his time in Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was not able to accept the proximity of his own demise, and the shadow of impending death instilled great fear in him. He invited a Catholic priest, Father Anselm Strittmatter, O.S.B., to visit him for consultation. Von Neumann reportedly said, "So long as there is the possibility of eternal damnation for nonbelievers it is more logical to be a believer at the end," referring to Pascal's wager. He had earlier confided to his mother, "There probably has to be a God. Many things are easier to explain if there is than if there isn't." Father Strittmatter administered the last rites to him. Some of von Neumann's friends, such as Abraham Pais and Oskar Morgenstern, said they had always believed him to be "completely agnostic". Of this deathbed conversion, Morgenstern told Heims, "He was of course completely agnostic all his life, and then he suddenly turned Catholic—it doesn't agree with anything whatsoever in his attitude, outlook and thinking when he was healthy." Father Strittmatter recalled that even after his conversion, von Neumann did not receive much peace or comfort from it, as he still remained terrified of death. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15942 | 32,019 |
197,453 | Compared to hemodialysis, PD allows greater patient mobility, produces fewer swings in symptoms due to its continuous nature, and phosphate compounds are better removed, but large amounts of albumin are removed which requires constant monitoring of nutritional status. The costs of PD are generally lower than those of HD in most parts of the world, this cost advantage is most apparent in developed economies. There is insufficient research to adequately compare the risks and benefits between CAPD and APD; a Cochrane Review of three small clinical trials found no difference in clinically important outcomes (i.e. morbidity or mortality) for patients with end stage renal disease, nor was there any advantage in preserving the functionality of the kidneys. The results suggested APD may have psychosocial advantages for younger patients and those who are employed or pursuing an education. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=749209 | 197,351 |
847,870 | "Blood Music" was first published as a short story (1983) and then expanded to a novel (1985). It has also been credited as the first account of nanotechnology in science fiction. More certainly, the short story is the first in science fiction to describe microscopic medical machines and to treat DNA as a computational system capable of being reprogrammed, that is, expanded and modified. In later works, beginning with "Queen of Angels" and continuing with its sequel, "Slant", Bear gives a detailed description of a near-future nanotechnological society. This historical sequence continues with "Heads"—which may contain the first description of a so-called "quantum logic computer"—and with "Moving Mars". The sequence also charts the historical development of self-awareness in artificial intelligence. Its continuing character Jill was inspired in part by Robert A. Heinlein's self-aware computer Mycroft HOLMES (High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor) in "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" (1966). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44445 | 847,420 |
459,708 | The Arctic ground squirrel hibernates over winter from early August to late April in adult females and from late September to early April for adult males, at which time it can reduce its body temperatures from to as little as . During hibernation, its core body temperature reaches temperatures down to and its heart rate drops to about one beat per minute. Peripheral, colonic, and blood temperatures become subzero. The best theory as to why the squirrel's blood doesn't freeze is that the animal is able to cleanse their bodies of Ice nucleators which are necessary for the development of ice crystals. In the absence of ice nucleators, body fluids can remain liquid while in supercooled state. This process is being studied with the hope that mechanism present in arctic ground squirrels may provide a path for better preservation of human organs for transplant. The connections between brain cells also wither away in this state. The damage should have resulted in death, but research on related species show that these connections regrow after waking up. In the warmer months, the squirrel is active during the day. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4188174 | 459,483 |
30,569 | The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) is an astronomical survey designed to probe the formation and evolution of galaxies as a function of both cosmic time (redshift) and the local galaxy environment. The survey covers a two square degree equatorial field with spectroscopy and X-ray to radio imaging by most of the major space-based telescopes and a number of large ground based telescopes, making it a key focus region of extragalactic astrophysics. COSMOS was launched in 2006 as the largest project pursued by the Hubble Space Telescope at the time, and still is the largest continuous area of sky covered for the purposes of mapping deep space in blank fields, 2.5 times the area of the moon on the sky and 17 times larger than the largest of the CANDELS regions. The COSMOS scientific collaboration that was forged from the initial COSMOS survey is the largest and longest-running extragalactic collaboration, known for its collegiality and openness. The study of galaxies in their environment can be done only with large areas of the sky, larger than a half square degree. More than two million galaxies are detected, spanning 90% of the age of the Universe. The COSMOS collaboration is led by Caitlin Casey, Jeyhan Kartaltepe, and Vernesa Smolcic and involves more than 200 scientists in a dozen countries. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40203 | 30,559 |
940,859 | In the U.S., George Westinghouse, who had become interested in the power transformer developed by Gaulard and Gibbs, began to develop his AC lighting system, using a transmission system with a 20:1 step up voltage with step-down. In 1890 Westinghouse and Stanley built a system to transmit power several miles to a mine in Colorado. A decision was taken to use AC for power transmission from the Niagara Power Project to Buffalo, New York. Proposals submitted by vendors in 1890 included DC and compressed air systems. A combination DC and compressed air system remained under consideration until late in the schedule. Despite the protestations of the Niagara commissioner William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) the decision was taken to build an AC system, which had been proposed by both Westinghouse and General Electric. In October 1893 Westinghouse was awarded the contract to provide the first three 5,000 hp, 250 rpm, 25 Hz, two phase generators. The hydro power plant went online in 1895, and it was the largest one until that date. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=551731 | 940,358 |
1,228,284 | Prince Itō Hirobumi (1841–1909) was prime minister for most of the period 1885–1901 and dominated foreign policy. He strengthened diplomatic ties with Western powers including Germany, the United States and especially Great Britain through the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1905. In Asia he oversaw the short, victorious war against China 1894–95. He negotiated Chinese surrender on terms aggressively favourable to Japan, including the annexation of Taiwan and the release of Korea from the Chinese tribute system. He also gained control of the Liaodong Peninsula with Darien and Port Arthur, but was immediately forced by Russia, Germany and France acting together in the Triple Intervention to give that back to China. In the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of 1894, he succeeded in removing some of the onerous unequal treaty clauses that had plagued Japanese foreign relations since the start of the Meiji period. His major breakthrough was the Anglo-Japanese Alliance signed in 1902. It was a diplomatic milestone, it saw an end to Britain's splendid isolation. The alliance was renewed and expanded in scope twice, in 1905 and 1911, before its demise in 1921. It was officially terminated in 1923. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54108025 | 1,227,622 |
1,028,809 | Several other properties are also desirable in a good detector scintillator: a low gamma output (i.e., a high efficiency for converting the energy of incident radiation into scintillation photons), transparency to its own scintillation light (for good light collection), efficient detection of the radiation being studied, a high stopping power, good linearity over a wide range of energy, a short rise time for fast timing applications (e.g., coincidence measurements), a short decay time to reduce detector dead-time and accommodate high event rates, emission in a spectral range matching the spectral sensitivity of existing PMTs (although wavelength shifters can sometimes be used), an index of refraction near that of glass (≈1.5) to allow optimum coupling to the PMT window. Ruggedness and good behavior under high temperature may be desirable where resistance to vibration and high temperature is necessary (e.g., oil exploration). The practical choice of a scintillator material is usually a compromise among those properties to best fit a given application. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=454323 | 1,028,275 |
1,631,040 | According to Simons, he founded the program to address failures in the US education system to produce students highly qualified in STEM skills and knowledge, which reduces America's ability to compete in the global economy. He perceived the cause of the failure as low quality teachers, and saw that problem in turn as being caused by low salaries, lack of prestige, and lack of support and good training making the job unattractive to qualified candidates, many of whom could get jobs in lucrative fields like quantitative finance. He created the program to provide math and science teachers with higher salaries and better training and funded it with $25M of his own money, adding an additional $25M in 2006. In the initial program, people who were accepted into the program who had degrees in math but were not teachers received a stipend of about $18,000 per year for five years from MfA in addition to their salaries and received free tuition to a high quality one year Master's program in teaching, as well as mentoring and professional development support after the first year. The five-year period was selected because that is the period during which most new teachers drop out; the starting salary of a NYC math teacher with a graduate degree was around $50,000 at that time. The program also offered stipends to qualified existing teachers, to promote their retention in the field. People who were accepted into the program also had to agree that they would pay back some of the support they had received, if they dropped out of the program. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2182307 | 1,630,119 |
590,178 | By 1956 many manufacturers across various industries had adopted a strategy similar to GM for their products, but it was IBM's dominant position in the computer mainframe market that caused the first implicit right to repair: IBM, back then the leading supplier for information technology to the US government and large corporations, was sued by the Department of Justice for uncompetitive behavior undermining the second hand market by not allowing clients to own, but only to lease their products. Given that all equipment had to be returned to IBM after expiration of leasing agreements IBM was technically the sole owner of the machines. Access to IBM software and hardware was always bundled effectively keeping other "software" companies away from their hardware and not allowing customers to run IBM logic on non IBM machines. Given the near monopolistic market position of IBM the U.S. Department of Justice successfully pursued a consent decree forcing IBM not only to sell all products at conditions that would not disadvantage purchasing over leasing them, but also to spin off the service division and provide parts, maintenance instructions and tools at identical commercial conditions to independent repair companies as to their own service division assuring that a second hand market and after sales market could be created. While this constituted the first real right to repair, the grounds for the decision were based on anti trust motives and not applicable on future electronics manufacturers as the entrance of domestic competitors such as HP and Asian manufacturers by introducing the so-called IBM compatible devices established a wide quantity of different players in the market. As a consequence the consent decree was abolished in the courts in 1997. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68312817 | 589,876 |
669,363 | Data-to-text systems have since been applied in a range of settings. Following the minor earthquake near Beverly Hills, California on March 17, 2014, The Los Angeles Times reported details about the time, location and strength of the quake within 3 minutes of the event. This report was automatically generated by a ‘robo-journalist’, which converted the incoming data into text via a preset template. Currently there is considerable commercial interest in using NLG to summarise financial and business data. Indeed, Gartner has said that NLG will become a standard feature of 90% of modern BI and analytics platforms. NLG is also being used commercially in automated journalism, chatbots, generating product descriptions for e-commerce sites, summarising medical records, and enhancing accessibility (for example by describing graphs and data sets to blind people). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=301999 | 669,013 |
189,158 | Although originally pioneered in the 1960s, dynamic linking did not reach operating systems used by consumers until the late 1980s. It was generally available in some form in most operating systems by the early 1990s. During this same period, object-oriented programming (OOP) was becoming a significant part of the programming landscape. OOP with runtime binding requires additional information that traditional libraries don't supply. In addition to the names and entry points of the code located within, they also require a list of the objects they depend on. This is a side-effect of one of OOP's core concepts, inheritance, which means that parts of the complete definition of any method may be in different places. This is more than simply listing that one library requires the services of another: in a true OOP system, the libraries themselves may not be known at compile time, and vary from system to system. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=106421 | 189,061 |
7,088 | Since then, the A-10 Common Fleet Initiative has led to further improvements: a new wing design, a new data link, the ability to employ smart weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser, as well as the newer GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, and the ability to carry an integrated targeting pod such as the Northrop Grumman Litening or the Lockheed Martin Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP). Also included is the Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER) to provide sensor data to personnel on the ground. The A-10C has a Missile Warning System (MWS), which alerts the pilot to whenever there is a missile launch, friendly or non-friendly. The A-10C can also carry a ALQ-184 ECM Pod, which works with the MWS to detect a missile launch, figure out what kind of vehicle is launching the missile or flak (i.e.: SAM, aircraft, flak, MANPAD, etc.) and then jams it with confidential emitting, and selects a countermeasure program that the pilot has pre-set, that when turned on, will automatically dispense flare and chaff at pre-set intervals and amounts. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12502446 | 7,085 |
1,652,312 | Mesonets were born out of the need to conduct mesoscale research. The nature of this research is such that mesonets, like the phenomena they were meant to observe, were (and sometimes still are) short-lived and may change rapidly. Long-term research projects and non-research groups, however, have been able to maintain a mesonet for many years. For example, the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground in Utah has maintained a mesonet for many decades. The research-based origin of mesonets led to the characteristic that mesonet stations may be modular and portable, able to be moved from one field program to another. Nonetheless, most large contemporary mesonets or nodes within consist of permanent stations comprising stationary networks. Some research projects, however, utilize mobile mesonets. Prominent examples include the VORTEX projects. The problems of implementing and maintaining robust fixed stations are exacerbated by lighter, compact mobile stations and are further worsened by various issues related when moving, such as vehicle slipstream effects, and particularly during rapid changes in the ambient environment associated with traversing severe weather. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10919869 | 1,651,380 |
162,160 | While Britain remained overly dependent on 'staple' heavy industries, the First World War had the advantage of stimulating production in new industries where the UK had lagged behind before 1914. Several of the new industries, including motorcars, chemicals, and rayon, were early recipients of tariff protection in the 1920s, prior to the Import Duties Act 1932. The interwar years saw new technologies develop at a breakneck pace, creating lucrative new industries including automobile, airplane, and motorbike manufacture. Before the First World War, automobile manufacture in Britain had been a boutique industry limited to producing expensive luxury cars. The industry produced 34,000 vehicles for the year 1913; by 1937 over half a million were being produced. Most of these were affordable models like the Austin 7 (introduced 1921), the Morris Minor (1928), as well as Model A and Model Y cars produced by Ford of Britain. The adoption of streamlined automation processes and the strong competition between manufacturers was responsible for a 50% drop in motorcar prices between the mid 20s and mid 30s, making cars more affordable (over 1 million were owned by 1930). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33643110 | 162,075 |
1,549,104 | Another possible cause, as theorised and researched by the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, could be neurosteroids that are essential and active while the foal is in utero. Foals receive stimulation of certain neurosteroids that keep them "quiet" during gestation. This is important for the health and safety of both mare and foal. If a foal were to move around similarly to humans during gestation, injuries and possible miscarriage could occur. These neurosteroids ensure that the foal remains relatively still in the womb. However, after the birth it is important that these neurosteroids stop. Horses are prey animals, with a strong flight response. If these neurosteroids continue to suppress the movement and reactions of a foal, it would be at a greater risk in the wild. Foals should be up and ready to run around shortly after birth, typically within a few hours. It is thought that the "switch" that changes these neurosteroids occurs during birth. While the foal is moving through the birth canal, the pressure exerted on the foal's body acts as that switch. Most live births take between 20 and 40 minutes. It is during this time that the sedative neurosteroids stop production, signally the foal to "wake up". This theory is supported by the discovery of sedative neurosteroids in the bloodstream of foals, shortly after birth, that develop NMS. The neurosteroids are capable of crossing the blood brain barrier. This allows them to affect the central nervous system of the foal. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=57765385 | 1,548,223 |
424,813 | Escaped slaves who sought refuge in Union Army camps were called contrabands. A number of officers in the field experimented, with varying degrees of success, in using contrabands for manual work in Union Army camps. Eventually they composed black regiments of soldiers. These officers included General David Hunter, General James H. Lane, and General Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts. In early 1861, General Butler was the first known Union commander to use black contrabands, in a non-combatant role, to do the physical labor duties, after he refused to return escaped slaves, at Fort Monroe, Virginia, who came to him for asylum from their masters, who sought to capture and reenslave them. In September 1862, free African-American men were conscripted and impressed into forced labor for constructing defensive fortifications, by the police force of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio; however, they were soon released from their forced labor and a call for African-American volunteers was sent out. Some 700 of them volunteered, and they came to be known as the Black Brigade of Cincinnati. Because of the harsh working conditions and the extreme brutality of their Cincinnati police guards, the Union Army, under General Lew Wallace, stepped in to restore order and ensure that the black conscripts received the fair treatment due to soldiers, including the equal pay of privates. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15799614 | 424,605 |
126,775 | In 1992, Hadfield was accepted into the Canadian astronaut program by the Canadian Space Agency. He first flew in space in November 1995 as a mission specialist aboard , visiting the Russian space station "Mir". He flew again in April 2001 on , when he visited the ISS and walked in space to help install Canadarm2. In December 2012, he flew for a third time aboard Soyuz TMA-07M to join Expedition 34 on the ISS. When Expedition 34 ended in March 2013, Hadfield became the commander of the ISS as part of Expedition 35, responsible for a crew of five astronauts and helping to run dozens of scientific experiments dealing with the impact of low gravity on human biology. During this mission, he chronicled life onboard the space station by taking pictures of Earth and posting them on various social media platforms. He was a guest on television news and talk shows and gained popularity by playing the ISS's guitar in space. Hadfield returned to Earth in May 2013, when the mission ended. He announced his retirement shortly after returning, capping a 35-year-long career as a military pilot and astronaut. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=78114 | 126,723 |
926,879 | Wilczek became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000. He was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 2002. Wilczek won the Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society in 2003. In the same year he was awarded the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Commemorative Medal from Charles University in Prague. He was the co-recipient of the 2003 High Energy and Particle Physics Prize of the European Physical Society. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2004 was awarded jointly to David J. Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczek "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction". Wilczek was also the co-recipient of the 2005 King Faisal International Prize for Science. In that same year, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. On January 25, 2013, Wilczek received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Science and Technology at Uppsala University, Sweden. He also served on the Physical Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize from 2009 to 2011. In 2011, Wilczek gave the George Gamow Memorial Lecture at the University of Colorado Boulder. In 2022 he was awarded the Templeton Prize for work that reveals "a vision of a universe that he regards as embodying mathematical beauty at the scales of the magnificently large and unimaginably small". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=275603 | 926,392 |
1,360,192 | Rotor machines from the 1940s and 1950s were mechanical marvels. The first generation electronic systems were quirky devices with cantankerous punched card readers for loading keys and failure-prone, tricky-to-maintain vacuum tube circuitry. Late 20th century systems are just black boxes, often literally. In fact they are called "blackers" in NSA parlance because they convert plaintext classified signals ("red") into encrypted unclassified ciphertext signals ("black"). They typically have electrical connectors for the red signals, the black signals, electrical power, and a port for loading keys. Controls can be limited to selecting between key fill, normal operation, and diagnostic modes and an all important "zeroize" button that erases classified information including keys and perhaps the encryption algorithms. 21st century systems often contain all the sensitive cryptographic functions on a single, tamper-resistant integrated circuit that supports multiple algorithms and allows over-the-air or network re keying, so that a single hand-held field radio, such as the AN/PRC-148 or AN/PRC-152, can interoperate with most current NSA cryptosystems. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1042273 | 1,359,440 |
1,531,077 | Supplementary data files have appeared in the early phase of the transition to scientific digital publishing. While the format of publications have largely kept the constraints of the printing format, additional materials could be included in "supplementary information". As a publication supplementary data files have an ambiguous status. In theory they are meant to be raw documents, giving access to the background of research. In practice, the released datasets have often to be specially curated for publication. They will usually focus on the primary data sources, not on the entire range of observations or measurements done for the purpose of the research: "Identifying what are "the data" associated with any individual article, conference paper, book, or other publication is often difficult [as] investigators collect data continually." The selection of the data is also further influenced by the publisher. Editorial policy of the journal largely determines "goes in the main text, what in the supplemental information" and editors are especially weary on including large datasets which may be difficult to maintain in the long run. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31915311 | 1,530,211 |
2,159,781 | Dr. Fellers also worked closely with cranberry growers in Massachusetts in an organization called “The Cranberry Exchange” to produce safe, nutritious and great tasting products. Dr. Fellers also collaborated with the National Canners Association to assist with food plant sanitation, prevention of food spoilage and development of federal regulation. Some other areas of research he participated in included innovative packaging technologies, color and flavor retention in preserved foods, methods for the fortification of foods with vitamins and determination of the nutritive value of foods. Dr. Fellers was not only an incredibly productive faculty member but he was also active in Military service. During WWII he was stationed in Australia and is accredited for establishing 33 dehydration plants that provided dried milk and egg products to the troops. For this he was awarded the Bronze Star. In 1987, Dr. Fellers felt that“The challenge is to provide the shoulders on which the future investigator will stand and from which he, in turn, will peer beyond the present horizons of knowledge into the great unknown. That is the spirit of research.” | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31559482 | 2,158,549 |
1,064,391 | The main and longitudinal girders have been designed as welded lattice steel members of sufficient depth to incorporate the access walkways. In addition to transferring the roof load to the columns these girders also have the 'V' strain insulators attached to them. The side framing of the building as well as carrying the wall cladding also supports the wall bushings and provides anchorage for the strainer connections between the turbine house and the switch house. The switch house was designed so as to fit in the architectural treatment of the Power Station as a whole. The plastic-coated aluminium cladding is therefore coloured black on the north and south faces of the building and gold on the east and west. The roof line of the switch house is designed to blend with the 'saw tooth' effect on the turbine house roof. Construction work began in the severely cold winter of 1962/63. The cold weather was turned to advantage as the clay subsoil which is generally unmanageable when wet was frozen solid. Excavation went on uninterrupted on drainage branches during this period. The wet mix base was next introduced over all the site. The object of the wet mix was to apply a firm layer for the construction to be carried on even when subsoil clay was wet. Construction traffic also tended to compact the wet mix therefore improving it as a base for the final topcoat of bitumen macadam. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19273099 | 1,063,837 |
816,090 | In the early summer of 1934, the RAF carried out large-scale exercises with up to 350 aircraft. The forces were split, with bombers attempting to attack London, while fighters, guided by the Observer Corps, attempted to stop them. The results were dismal. In most cases, the vast majority of the bombers reached their target without ever seeing a fighter. To address the one-sided results, the RAF gave increasingly accurate information to the defenders, eventually telling the observers where and when the attacks would be taking place. Even then, 70% of the bombers reached their targets unhindered. The numbers suggested any targets in the city would be completely destroyed. Squadron Leader P. R. Burchall summed up the results by noting that "a feeling of defencelessness and dismay, or at all events of uneasiness, has seized the public." In November, Churchill gave a speech on "The threat of Nazi Germany" in which he pointed out that the Royal Navy could not protect Britain from an enemy who attacked by air. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=382754 | 815,654 |
1,643,089 | Recognised as a very widely dispersed group with distinct morphology, biology and genetic characters, the number of species and systematic arrangements varied between still contradictory treatments. The genus was nested within Vespertilionidae as Miniopterinae, one of five subfamilies, with doubts remaining on the relationships to sister groups. The position of the minopterines was determined as showing a phylogenetic relationship to either the vespertilionids or the molossids, these assumptions were compared and analysed in study using large data sets derived from multiple genetic indicators and statistical analysis to determine the basal relationships within the order Chiroptera. The authors of this 2007 study found support for elevation to the rank of family—as Miniopteridae—and that the vespertilionids and "Miniopterus" species formed a clade that had diverged from the molossids (free-tailed bats) at a period around 54–43 million years ago and from other species 49–38 mya. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13748400 | 1,642,162 |
18,106 | Building on lessons learned, Lockheed Martin modified a commercial variant of the C-130 into a High Technology Test Bed (HTTB). This test aircraft set numerous short takeoff and landing performance records and significantly expanded the database for future derivatives of the C-130. Modifications made to the HTTB included extended chord ailerons, a long chord rudder, fast-acting double-slotted trailing edge flaps, a high-camber wing leading edge extension, a larger dorsal fin and dorsal fins, the addition of three spoiler panels to each wing upper surface, a long-stroke main and nose landing gear system, and changes to the flight controls and a change from direct mechanical linkages assisted by hydraulic boost, to fully powered controls, in which the mechanical linkages from the flight station controls operated only the hydraulic control valves of the appropriate boost unit. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7697 | 18,100 |
678,860 | Reactions to the QBist interpretation have ranged from enthusiastic to strongly negative. Some who have criticized QBism claim that it fails to meet the goal of resolving paradoxes in quantum theory. Bacciagaluppi argues that QBism's treatment of measurement outcomes does not ultimately resolve the issue of nonlocality, and Jaeger finds QBism's supposition that the interpretation of probability is key for the resolution to be unnatural and unconvincing. Norsen has accused QBism of solipsism, and Wallace identifies QBism as an instance of instrumentalism; QBists have argued insistently that these characterizations are misunderstandings, and that QBism is neither solipsist nor instrumentalist. A critical article by Nauenberg in the "American Journal of Physics" prompted a reply by Fuchs, Mermin, and Schack. Some assert that there may be inconsistencies; for example, Stairs argues that when a probability assignment equals one, it cannot be a degree of belief as QBists say. Further, while also raising concerns about the treatment of probability-one assignments, Timpson suggests that QBism may result in a reduction of explanatory power as compared to other interpretations. Fuchs and Schack replied to these concerns in a later article. Mermin advocated QBism in a 2012 "Physics Today" article, which prompted considerable discussion. Several further critiques of QBism which arose in response to Mermin's article, and Mermin's replies to these comments, may be found in the "Physics Today" readers' forum. Section 2 of the "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" entry on QBism also contains a summary of objections to the interpretation, and some replies. Others are opposed to QBism on more general philosophical grounds; for example, Mohrhoff criticizes QBism from the standpoint of Kantian philosophy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35611432 | 678,506 |
353,813 | While rainwater itself is a clean source of water, often better than groundwater or water from rivers or lakes, the process of collection and storage often leaves the water polluted and non-potable. Rainwater harvested from roofs can contain human, animal and bird feces, mosses and lichens, windblown dust, particulates from urban pollution, pesticides, and inorganic ions from the sea (Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cl, SO4), and dissolved gases (CO, NO, SO). High levels of pesticide have been found in rainwater in Europe with the highest concentrations occurring in the first rain immediately after a dry spell; the concentration of these and other contaminants are reduced significantly by diverting the initial flow of run-off water to waste. Improved water quality can also be obtained by using a floating draw-off mechanism (rather than from the base of the tank) and by using a series of tanks, withdraw from the last in series. Prefiltration is a common practice used in the industry to keep the system healthy and ensure that the water entering the tank is free of large sediments. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1032545 | 353,630 |
458,039 | "Cymbospondylus" was especially diverse in the Fossil Hill Member of the Favret and Prida formations of Nevada, which preserves a pelagic environment from the middle to late Anisian (ca. 246 - 242 million years ago). The Fossil Hill Member specifically preserves some of the greatest ichthyosaur diversity recorded, with 8 distinct taxa present. This includes 4 species of "Cymbospondylus", the early macropredatory "Thalattoarchon", the small "Phalarodon fraasi" and "P. callawayi" as well as the poorly understood "Omphalosaurus". Other animals present in the environment include a single sauropterygian, "Augustasaurus hagdorni", halobiid bivalves but only few remains of fish. However this may be due to preservation bias. Despite this abundance of amniote fossils, analysis of the preserved ecosystem indicates that the Fossil Hill Member represents a stable food web largely dominated by said amniotes, occupying niches held by fish in modern marine ecosystems. Furthermore, the analysis conducted by Eva Maria Griebeler in the study of Sander and colleagues indicates the presence of an energy surplus, which may indicate the presence of an as of yet unknown animal in the Fossil Hill fauna or that this energy surplus may have been exploited by animals that evolved later. The ecosystem could have supported another giant marine reptile, assuming it were be a bulk feeder specialised on small prey that's lower in the food chain. Such an animal could have for example been a filter feeder, a nische not yet occupied by any animal in the fauna of the Fossil Hill Member. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4675514 | 457,816 |
192,892 | In 1955 Hans Suess's carbon-14 isotope analysis showed that released from fossil fuels was not immediately absorbed by the ocean. In 1957, better understanding of ocean chemistry led Roger Revelle to a realization that the ocean surface layer had limited ability to absorb carbon dioxide, also predicting the rise in levels of and later being proven by Charles David Keeling. By the late 1950s, more scientists were arguing that carbon dioxide emissions could be a problem, with some projecting in 1959 that would rise 25% by the year 2000, with potentially "radical" effects on climate. In the centennial of the American oil industry in 1959, organized by the American Petroleum Institute and the Columbia Graduate School of Business, Edward Teller said "It has been calculated that a temperature rise corresponding to a 10 per cent increase in carbon dioxide will be sufficient to melt the icecap and submerge New York. ... At present the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by 2 per cent over normal. By 1970, it will be perhaps 4 per cent, by 1980, 8 per cent, by 1990, 16 per cent if we keep on with our exponential rise in the use of purely conventional fuels." In 1960 Charles David Keeling demonstrated that the level of in the atmosphere was in fact rising. Concern mounted year by year along with the rise of the "Keeling Curve" of atmospheric . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23423379 | 192,792 |
887,372 | The transmitter was built in secrecy on the coast at Poldhu, Cornwall, UK. Marconi was pressed for time because Nikola Tesla was building his own transatlantic radiotelegraphy transmitter on Long Island, New York, in a bid to be first (this was the Wardenclyffe Tower, which lost funding and was abandoned unfinished after Marconi's success). Marconi's original round 400-wire transmitting antenna collapsed in a storm 17 September 1901 and he hastily erected a temporary antenna consisting of 50 wires suspended in a fan shape from a cable between two 160 foot poles. The frequency used is not known precisely, as Marconi did not measure wavelength or frequency, but it was between 166 and 984 kHz, probably around 500 kHz. He received the signal on the coast of St. John's, Newfoundland using an untuned coherer receiver with a 400 ft. wire antenna suspended from a kite. Marconi announced the first transatlantic radio transmission took place on 12 December 1901, from Poldhu, Cornwall to Signal Hill, Newfoundland, a distance of 2100 miles (3400 km). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1105907 | 886,907 |
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