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636,419 | Joseph Crookes had had five children with his first wife; two sons from that marriage, Joseph and Alfred, took over the tailoring business, leaving William free to choose his own path. In 1848, at age 16, Crookes entered the Royal College of Chemistry (now the Imperial College chemistry department) to study organic chemistry. Crookes lived with his parents about three miles from the College in Oxford Street. His father's shop was about half a mile away. Crookes paid £25 for his first year's tuition and had to provide his own apparatus and some of the more expensive chemicals. At the end of his first year, Crookes won the Ashburton scholarship which covered his second year's tuition. At the end of his second year, Crookes became a junior assistant to August Wilhelm von Hofmann, doing laboratory demonstrations and helping with research and commercial analysis. In October 1851, Crookes was promoted to senior assistant, a position he held until 1854. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27648 | 636,080 |
2,133,441 | At the end of the Civil War, the economy in the United States re-stabilized and simultaneously California started to produce a surplus of wheat beyond the needs of west coast markets. Friedlander and other producers experimented with shipping to Pacific rim countries, but by coincidence weather-related crop failures in Great Britain created excess demand there. Although the British Isles were only accessible via a long, difficult trip around Cape Horn, Friedlander learned to take advantage of new technologies. One was a fast new clipper ship, called the Down Easter, which was particularly suited to cargo such as wheat, and could make the trip to England in about 100 days. He also utilized the telegraph, especially the newly laid trans-Atlantic telegraph, over which he was able to coordinate information about available vessels to ship the crop in a timely manner. Within a few years, California became a major supplier of flour and wheat to Great Britain. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=41091937 | 2,132,216 |
31,025 | Most studies show no benefit from the addition of chemotherapy. However, a large clinical trial of 575 participants randomized to standard radiation versus radiation plus temozolomide chemotherapy showed that the group receiving temozolomide survived a median of 14.6 months as opposed to 12.1 months for the group receiving radiation alone. This treatment regimen is now standard for most cases of glioblastoma where the person is not enrolled in a clinical trial. Temozolomide seems to work by sensitizing the tumor cells to radiation, and appears more effective for tumors with "MGMT" promoter methylation. High doses of temozolomide in high-grade gliomas yield low toxicity, but the results are comparable to the standard doses. Antiangiogenic therapy with medications such as bevacizumab control symptoms, but do not appear to affect overall survival in those with glioblastoma. The overall benefit of anti-angiogenic therapies as of 2019 is unclear. In elderly people with newly diagnosed glioblastoma who are reasonably fit, concurrent and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy gives the best overall survival but is associated with a greater risk of haematological adverse events than radiotherapy alone. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1023575 | 31,015 |
276,102 | In January 2018, the Advisory Committee of the Game Developers Choice Awards announced that Bushnell would receive the Pioneer Award at the March ceremony at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), crediting his role at Atari. That day, several people through social media, including Brianna Wu, claimed Bushnell fostered a toxic work environment at Atari for women that became the foundation for the then-future video game industry, based on several documented interviews and accounts of Atari at the time of the 1970s and 1980s; a notable example was of Bushnell holding board meetings in a hot tub and invited female secretaries to join them. Wu and others asserted that while Bushnell had done much for the industry, recognizing him with this type of award during the ongoing #MeToo movement was sending the wrong message. Wu stated, "Nolan Bushnell deserves to be honored, but this is not the right time for it. It's easy to draw a line between the culture he created at Atari and the structural sexism women in tech face today." The hashtag "#NotNolan" was shared by those with similar complaints about the GDC's choice. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=77245 | 275,952 |
464,933 | A transposase is any of a class of enzymes capable of binding to the end of a transposon and catalysing its movement to another part of a genome, typically by a cut-and-paste mechanism or a replicative mechanism, in a process known as transposition. The word "transposase" was first coined by the individuals who cloned the enzyme required for transposition of the Tn3 transposon. The existence of transposons was postulated in the late 1940s by Barbara McClintock, who was studying the inheritance of maize, but the actual molecular basis for transposition was described by later groups. McClintock discovered that some segments of chromosomes changed their position, jumping between different loci or from one chromosome to another. The repositioning of these transposons (which coded for color) allowed other genes for pigment to be expressed. Transposition in maize causes changes in color; however, in other organisms, such as bacteria, it can cause antibiotic resistance. Transposition is also important in creating genetic diversity within species and generating adaptability to changing living conditions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1258217 | 464,703 |
2,090,381 | The Spaak Report drawn up by the "Spaak Committee" provided the basis for further progress and was accepted at the Venice Conference (29 and 30 May 1956) where the decision was taken to organize an Intergovernmental Conference. The report formed the cornerstone of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at Val Duchesse in 1956. The outcome of the conference was that new communities would share the Common Assembly (now Parliamentary Assembly) with the ECSC, as it would with the Court of Justice. However they would not share the ECSC's Council of High Authority. The two new High Authorities would be called Commissions, this was due to a reduction in their powers. France was reluctant to agree to more supranational powers and hence the new Commissions would only have basic powers and important decisions would have to be approved by the Council, which now adopted majority voting. Thus, on 25 March 1957, the Treaties of Rome were signed. They came into force on 1958-01-01 establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The latter body fostered co-operation in the nuclear field, at the time a very popular area, and the EEC was to create a full customs union between members. Louis Armand became the first President of Euratom Commission and Walter Hallstein became the first President of the EEC Commission. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11662516 | 2,089,178 |
1,382,768 | On the seventh day of competition on July 30, six finals were contested, the women's 50 m butterfly, men's 50 m freestyle, women's 200 m backstroke, men's 100 m butterfly, women's 800 m freestyle, and the women's 4×100 m medley relay. In the first final of day seven, the women's 50 m butterfly, Dutch swimmer Inge Dekker pulled an upset and won the gold ahead world record holder Therese Alshammar 25.71 to 25.76. In the men's 50 m freestyle, Brazilian César Cielo successfully defended his 2009 title with a win in a time of 21.52. In the women's 200 m backstroke, American Missy Franklin dominated the competition with a national record time of 2:05.10, almost a second ahead of second-place finisher Belinda Hocking and nearly breaking the world record set in 2009. Franklin's time of 2:05.10 is the third-fastest ever in the event. In the men's 100 m butterfly, American Michael Phelps won the expected gold in a time of 50.71, his third consecutive title in the event (also winning in 2007 and 2009) and second individual title of the meet. In the women's 800 m freestyle, Brit Rebecca Adlington was able to hold off Dane Lotte Friis for the win with a time of 8:17.51. Friis finished second with a time of 8:18.20. In the final event of day seven, the women's 4×100 m medley relay, the American team of Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, Dana Vollmer, and Missy Franklin won the gold with a time of 3:52.36, over three seconds ahead of second-place finisher China. Their time was the second-fastest of all time and was just outside the Chinese owned world record of 3:52.19 from 2009. It was the first title for the American team since 1998. Notably, Franklin, who had just completed the 200 m backstroke, completed the freestyle leg in the medley relay in 52.79, the fastest freestyle leg in the field. No new world or competition records were set during day seven. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4466178 | 1,382,003 |
55,123 | Although nerves tend to lie deep under the skin except in a few places such as the ulnar nerve near the elbow joint, they are still relatively exposed to physical damage, which can cause pain, loss of sensation, or loss of muscle control. Damage to nerves can also be caused by swelling or bruises at places where a nerve passes through a tight bony channel, as happens in carpal tunnel syndrome. If a nerve is completely transected, it will often regenerate, but for long nerves this process may take months to complete. In addition to physical damage, peripheral neuropathy may be caused by many other medical problems, including genetic conditions, metabolic conditions such as diabetes, inflammatory conditions such as Guillain–Barré syndrome, vitamin deficiency, infectious diseases such as leprosy or shingles, or poisoning by toxins such as heavy metals. Many cases have no cause that can be identified, and are referred to as idiopathic. It is also possible for nerves to lose function temporarily, resulting in numbness as stiffness—common causes include mechanical pressure, a drop in temperature, or chemical interactions with local anesthetic drugs such as lidocaine. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21944 | 55,100 |
328,662 | In the mid-twentieth century, several important philosophers and philosophers of science began to critique the foundations of logical positivism. In his 1934 work "The Logic of Scientific Discovery", Karl Popper argued against verificationism. A statement such as "all swans are white" cannot actually be empirically verified, because it is impossible to know empirically whether all swans have been observed. Instead, Popper argued that at best an observation can falsify a statement (for example, observing a black swan would prove that not all swans are white). Popper also held that scientific theories talk about how the world really is (not about phenomena or observations experienced by scientists), and critiqued the Vienna Circle in his "Conjectures and Refutations". W. V. O. Quine and Pierre Duhem went even further. The Duhem–Quine thesis states that it is impossible to experimentally test a scientific hypothesis in isolation, because an empirical test of the hypothesis requires one or more background assumptions (also called auxiliary assumptions or auxiliary hypotheses); thus, unambiguous scientific falsifications are also impossible. Thomas Kuhn, in his 1962 book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", put forward his theory of paradigm shifts. He argued that it is not simply individual theories but whole worldviews that must occasionally shift in response to evidence. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2871407 | 328,488 |
1,923,515 | Along with more standard examples of nutritional symbioses in animals, recent advances in genome sequencing technology have led to the discovery of many endosymbiotic associations in marine protists (a protist is a general term to refer to a non-monophyletic collection of unicellular eukaryotes that are not fungi or in the Plantae group) These illustrate the incorporation of various new biochemical functions, such as photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation and recycling, and methanogenesis, into protist hosts by endosymbionts. Endosymbiosis in protists is widespread and represents an important source of innovation. Previously unrecognized metabolic innovations of marine microbial symbioses that are ecologically important are discovered regularly. For example, "Candidatus" Kentron (a clade of Gammaproteobacteria found in association with ciliates) nourish their ciliate hosts in the genus "Kentrophoros" and recycle acetate and propionate, which are low-value cellular waste products from their hosts, into biomass. Another example is the anaerobic marine ciliate "Strombidium purpureum". The ciliate lives under anaerobic conditions and harbors endosymbiotic purple nonsulfur bacteria that contain both bacteriochlorophyll a and spirilloxanthin. The endosymbionts are photosynthetically active; hence, this symbiosis represents an evolutionary transition of an aerobic organism to an anaerobic one while incorporating organelles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62893752 | 1,922,412 |
1,240,367 | Kashin–Beck disease (KBD) is a chronic, endemic type of osteochondropathy (disease of the bone) that is mainly distributed from northeastern to southwestern China, including 15 provinces. As of 2011, Tibet has the highest incidence rate of KBD in China. Southeast Siberia and North Korea are other affected areas. KBD usually involves children ages 5–15. To date, more than a million individuals have had KBD. The symptoms of KBD include joint pain, morning stiffness in the joints, disturbances of flexion and extension in the elbows, enlarged inter-phalangeal joints, and limited motion in many joints of the body. Death of cartilage cells in the growth plate and articular surface is the basic pathologic feature; this can result in growth retardation and secondary osteoarthrosis. Histological diagnosis of KBD is particularly difficult; clinical and radiological examinations have proved to be the best means for identifying KBD. Little is known about the early stages of KBD before the visible appearance of the disease becomes evident in the destruction of the joints. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14386750 | 1,239,698 |
2,107,419 | In Minnesota's first championship appearance in over a decade, they met Maine and the two fought a back-and-forth battle for the title. Minnesota got on the board in the first period on the strength of the power play goal from Keith Ballard. They held the lead for a time but couldn't extend their advantage despite three succeeding penalties by Maine. Instead, it was the Black bears who netted a power play marker early in the second frame. John Pohl wasted no time and scored to give Minnesota the lead just 51 seconds later. The Gophers continued to hold a 1-goal advantage for the rest of the period on the strength of Hauser's play. Maine tied the game a second time, just 77 seconds into the third, and continued to fire the puck on goal until a they got their first lead of the game with under 5 minutes to play. Minnesota tried to tie the game for a fourth time but the clock was quickly counting down. After an icing, head coach Don Lucia called a timeout with 58 seconds remaining and drew up a play for the team. The ensuing drew turned to a melee but the puck found its way to Matt Koalska, who shot it between Matthew Yeats' legs to the delight of the partisan crowd. Both teams had several opportunities to score in the ensuing overtime, but Minnesota got the biggest break when Maine took a tripping penalty with just over 4 minutes remaining. A minute later, Grant Potulny collected the second rebound after shots by Leopold and Pohl and fired the puck into the cage, winning the 4th national title for the program. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69916610 | 2,106,206 |
1,450,864 | Herbivores are dependent on plants for food, and have coevolved mechanisms to obtain this food despite the evolution of a diverse arsenal of plant defenses against herbivory. Herbivore adaptations to plant defense have been likened to "offensive traits" and consist of those traits that allow for increased feeding and use of a host. Plants, on the other hand, protect their resources for use in growth and reproduction, by limiting the ability of herbivores to eat them. Relationships between herbivores and their host plants often results in reciprocal evolutionary change. When a herbivore eats a plant it selects for plants that can mount a defensive response, whether the response is incorporated biochemically or physically, or induced as a counterattack. In cases where this relationship demonstrates "specificity" (the evolution of each trait is due to the other), and "reciprocity" (both traits must evolve), the species are thought to have coevolved. The escape and radiation mechanisms for coevolution, presents the idea that adaptations in herbivores and their host plants, has been the driving force behind speciation. The coevolution that occurs between plants and herbivores that ultimately results in the speciation of both can be further explained by the Red Queen hypothesis. This hypothesis states that competitive success and failure evolve back and forth through organizational learning. The act of an organism facing competition with another organism ultimately leads to an increase in the organism's performance due to selection. This increase in competitive success then forces the competing organism to increase its performance through selection as well, thus creating an "arms race" between the two species. Herbivores evolve due to plant defenses because plants must increase their competitive performance first due to herbivore competitive success. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4570692 | 1,450,047 |
2,091,695 | These diet changes have occurred more in females and calves than in males, though. The bulls do not change as much of their graze time, even if wolves are in the area, because their bodies are not equipped to deal with such bad nutrition right before winter. The little changes they do make in their diet cause them to be in a poor state when winter finally arrives. Because of the decrease in available food during the winter, an adult female elk weighing around 200-kg would have to eat an amount of food greater than the biological maximum that can be consumed by this animal in order to get the necessary nutrients. It is difficult for elk to forage in the winter due to snowfall and lack of suitable live plants. Even without nutrient deficiency from changes in summer foraging patterns, their body conditions deteriorate (Christianson and Creel, 2010). This is just one reason why elk, male and female, have to rely a lot on stored fat and muscle that was gained throughout the rest of the year to meet the needed levels of dietary energy and nitrogen. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38496315 | 2,090,490 |
692,808 | The beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) is currently considered a member of the family Circoviridae. Like other circoviruses, BFDV possesses a small, circular single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) genome (approximately 2.0 kb in length) that is encapsidated into a non-enveloped, spherical icosahedral virion. In order to replicate its genome, BFDV needs to invade the nucleus to access the transcriptional machinery of the host cell. The replication of BFDV is known to occur in numerous tissues, including skin, liver, gastrointestinal tract, and bursa of Fabricius; while the capsid antigen of BFDV is found in the spleen, thymus, thyroid, parathyroid and bone marrow. However, the distinction between viral entry and replication in a host cell remains unclear in the absence of confirmation in suitable cell culture. Viral attachment and entry into host cells may not necessarily lead to viral replication, and consequently not all cells containing viral particles may contribute to the disease progression. However, it is thought that the BFDV encodes proteins that actively transport the viral genome into the nucleus, as well as factors that direct the precursor DNA exit to the cytoplasm, where it causes large globular intracytoplasmic paracrystalline arrays. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4942191 | 692,445 |
1,476,095 | The redeposited cementing material is most commonly calcareous or siliceous. Limestones, which were originally a loose accumulation of shells, corals, etc., become compacted into firm rock in this manner; and the process often takes place with surprising ease, as for example, in the deeper parts of coral reefs, or even in wind-blown masses of shelly sand exposed merely to the action of rain. The cementing substance may be regularly deposited in crystalline continuity on the original grains, where these were crystalline, and even in sandstones (such as Kentish rag), a crystalline matrix of calcite often envelops the sand grains. The change of aragonite to calcite and of calcite to dolomite, by forming new crystalline masses in the interior of the rock, usually also accelerates consolidations. Silica is less easily soluble in ordinary waters, but even this ingredient of rocks is dissolved and redeposited with great frequency. Many sandstones are held together by an infinitesimal amount of colloid or cryptocrystalline silica; when freshly dug from the quarry they are soft and easily trimmed, but after exposure to the air for some time they become much harder, as their siliceous cement sets and passes into a rigid condition. Others contain fine scales of kaolin or of mica. Argillaceous materials may be compacted by mere pressure, like graphite and other scaly minerals. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=752377 | 1,475,263 |
1,601,363 | Then from the atomic scale, nanomachines could be made and even be designed to self-replicate themselves as long as they are designed in an environment with copious amount of the needed materials. Because individual atoms are being manipulated in the process, bottom-up manufacturing is often referred to as “atom by atom” manufacturing. If the manufacturing of nanomachines can be made more readily available through improved techniques, there could be a large economic and social impact. This would start with improvements in making microelectromechanical systems and then would allow for the creation of nanoscale biological sensors along with things that have not been thought of yet. This is because “wet” nanotech is only in the beginning of its life. Scientists and engineers alike feel that biomimetics is a great way to start looking at creating nanoscale machines. Humans have only had a few thousand years to try to learn about the mechanics of things at really small scales. However, nature has been working on perfecting the design and functionality of nanomachines for millions of years. This is why there are already nanomachines, such as ATP synthase, working in our bodies that have an unheard of 95% efficiency. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30380229 | 1,600,462 |
12,173 | The world's first large-scale experimental rocket program was Opel RAK under the leadership of Fritz von Opel and Max Valier during the late 1920s leading to the first manned rocket cars and rocket planes, which paved the way for the Nazi era V2 program and US and Soviet activities from 1950 onwards.The Opel RAK program and the spectacular public demonstrations of ground and air vehicles drew large crowds, as well as caused global public excitement as so-called "Rocket Rumble" and had a large long-lasting impact on later spaceflight pioneers, in particular on Wernher von Braun. Sixteen year old Wernher was so enthusiastic about the public Opel RAK demonstrations, that he constructed his own homemade rocket car, nearly killing himself in the process. and causing a major disruption in a crowded street by detonating the toy wagon to which he had attached fireworks. He was taken into custody by the local police until his father came to get him. The Great Depression put an end to the Opel RAK program and Fritz von Opel left Germany in 1930, emigrating first to the US, later to France and Switzerland. After the break-up of Opel-RAK program, Valier eventually was killed while experimenting with liquid-fueled rockets as means of propulsion in mid-1930, and is considered the first fatality of the dawning space age. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33783 | 12,168 |
476,549 | Alphaviruses are of interest to gene therapy researchers, in particular the Ross River virus, Sindbis virus, Semliki Forest virus, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus have all been used to develop viral vectors for gene delivery. Of particular interest are the chimeric viruses that may be formed with alphaviral envelopes and retroviral capsids. Such chimeras are termed pseudotyped viruses. Alphaviral envelope pseudotypes of retroviruses or lentiviruses are able to integrate the genes that they carry into the expansive range of potential host cells that are recognized and infected by the alphaviral envelope proteins E2 and E1. The stable integration of viral genes is mediated by the retroviral interiors of these vectors. There are limitations to the use of alphaviruses in the field of gene therapy due to their lack of targeting, however, through the introduction of variable antibody domains in a non-conserved loop in the structure of E2, specific populations of cells have been targeted. Furthermore, the use of whole alphaviruses for gene therapy is of limited efficacy both because several internal alphaviral proteins are involved in the induction of apoptosis upon infection and also because the alphaviral capsid mediates only the transient introduction of mRNA into host cells. Neither of these limitations extend to alphaviral envelope pseudotypes of retroviruses or lentiviruses. However, the expression of Sindbis virus envelopes may lead to apoptosis, and their introduction into host cells upon infection by Sindbis virus envelope pseudotyped retroviruses may also lead to cell death. The toxicity of Sindbis viral envelopes may be the cause of the very low production titers realized from packaging cells constructed to produce Sindbis pseudotypes. Another branch of research involving alphaviruses is in vaccination. Alphaviruses are apt to be engineered to create replicon vectors which efficiently induce humoral and T-cell immune responses. They could therefore be used to vaccinate against viral, bacterial, protozoan, and tumor antigens. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2734429 | 476,309 |
537,108 | On June 8, 1960, he had another close call during ground tests with the XLR-99 engine. He was seated in the cockpit of the No. 3 X-15 when a malfunctioning valve caused a catastrophic explosion. Once again he was uninjured as Dr. Toby Freedman, NAA Medical Director, pried open the cockpit to save him and despite being subjected to a later calculated acceleration force of near 50 Gs (although Crossfield stated in the Discovery Channel's series "Frontiers of Flight" that he began to have debilitating issues with his night vision after the accident) and the airplane was completely rebuilt. On November 15 of the same year, he completed the X-15's first powered flight with the XLR-99 engine. Two flights later, on December 6, he brought North American's demonstration program to a successful conclusion as he completed his final flight in the X-15. Although it had been his hope to eventually pilot one of the craft into space, the USAF would not allow it, and gave strict orders which basically amounted to "stay in the sky, stay out of space." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=748827 | 536,829 |
1,110,975 | Science and technology in the United Kingdom has a long history, producing many important figures and developments in the field. Major theorists from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland include Isaac Newton whose laws of motion and illumination of gravity have been seen as a keystone of modern science and Charles Darwin whose theory of evolution by natural selection was fundamental to the development of modern biology. Major scientific discoveries include hydrogen by Henry Cavendish, penicillin by Alexander Fleming, and the structure of DNA, by Francis Crick and others. Major engineering projects and applications pursued by people from the United Kingdom include the steam locomotive developed by Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian, the jet engine by Frank Whittle and the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee. The United Kingdom continues to play a major role in the development of science and technology and major technological sectors include the aerospace, motor and pharmaceutical industries. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29473295 | 1,110,409 |
371,043 | In the late 1960s, the "Ekho" study conducted by the GosNIIAS institute concluded that it would be more effective to deploy many small, subsonic cruise missiles than the much more expensive supersonic missiles then in favour. Work started at the Raduga bureau on an air-launched cruise missile in 1971, with a first test flight in 1976. The appearance of the US Air Force's AGM-86 ALCM in that year gave further impetus to the programme, with the Soviet Air Force issuing a formal requirement for a new air-launched cruise missile in December 1976. The longer-range Kh-55SM was developed a few years after the original went into service. In the late 1980s work began on a replacement missile with either conventional (Kh-101/X-101) or nuclear (Kh-102) warheads and greater stealth. It was designed by Igor Seleznyev of Raduga. The importance of advanced missiles as "force multipliers" increased as Russia's fleet of available cruise-missile bombers declined in the early 1990s. The cancellation of the ambitious Kh-90 ramjet missile due to INF Treaty in 1987 led to a renewed emphasis on improving the Kh-55, in particular to achieve the <20 m accuracy required to hit infrastructure targets with conventionalas opposed to nuclearwarheads. The first flight of the Kh-101 was in 1998, and evaluation trials started in 2000. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1109032 | 370,849 |
526,130 | Images from the "Akatsuki" orbiter revealed something similar to jet stream winds in the low and middle cloud region, which extends from 45 to 60 kilometers in altitude. The wind speed maximized near the equator. In September 2017, JAXA scientists named this phenomenon 'Venusian equatorial jet'. They also published results on equatorial winds at the cloud-top level by tracking clouds on the UV spectrum. A significant result in 2018 is the appearance of thick clouds of small particles near the transition between upper and middle clouds, what was described as a "new and puzzling morphology of the complex cloud cover." By 2017, the science team published 3D maps on the Venus atmosphere structure. The physical quantities retrieved include the pressure, the temperature, the vapor density, and the ionospheric electron density and their variations. By the year 2019, the first results about the morphology, temporal changes and the winds at the middle clouds of Venus were published and merited the cover in Geophysical Research Letters, reporting unexpectedly high contrasts that might indicate the presence of absorbers like water. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1795428 | 525,857 |
2,080,302 | Martin Sommerfeld was born in Angerburg, East Prussia, to Bertha (née Klein) and Heinrich Sommerfeld, a factory owner. After attending school in Königsberg (Prussia) and Insterburg and passing the Abitur at the Prinz-Heinrichs-Gymnasium in Berlin-Schöneberg, he studied German language and literature as well as English and French literature, art history, philosophy, and medieval and modern history in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich, where in 1916 he received his Ph.D. with a dissertation on Friedrich Nicolai written under the direction of Franz Muncker. In 1919 he married Helene Schott (1892–1974). After completing a habilitation thesis on Goethe and Hebbel under the supervision of Franz Schultz (1877–1950) at the University of Frankfurt, he became a lecturer there in 1922 and in 1927 advanced to a professorship. Among his students who later rose to prominence were Wilhelm Emrich, Ernst Erich Noth, Richard Plaut, and Oskar Salo Koplowitz. Among Sommerfeld's colleagues in the department of German studies at the University of Frankfurt, his antipode was Hans Naumann, who backed the Nazi book burnings in May 1933. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54366383 | 2,079,102 |
1,405,787 | His article in "Philosophical Transactions" created much controversy, as he addressed the problems of Newton's theory, but provided few solutions to how to fix the calculations. After his return, he published his treatise "Théorie de la figure de la terre" (1743). In this work he promulgated the theorem, known as Clairaut's theorem, which connects the gravity at points on the surface of a rotating ellipsoid with the compression and the centrifugal force at the equator. This hydrostatic model of the shape of the Earth was founded on a paper by Colin Maclaurin, which had shown that a mass of homogeneous fluid set in rotation about a line through its centre of mass would, under the mutual attraction of its particles, take the form of an ellipsoid. Under the assumption that the Earth was composed of concentric ellipsoidal shells of uniform density, Clairaut's theorem could be applied to it, and allowed the ellipticity of the Earth to be calculated from surface measurements of gravity. This proved Sir Isaac Newton's theory that the shape of the Earth was an oblate ellipsoid. In 1849 Stokes showed that Clairaut's result was true whatever the interior constitution or density of the Earth, provided the surface was a spheroid of equilibrium of small ellipticity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=196273 | 1,404,997 |
1,171,900 | Karl Ziegler was born on 26 November 1898 in Helsa near Kassel, Germany and was the second son of Karl Ziegler, a Lutheran minister, and Luise Rall Ziegler. He attended Kassel-Bettenhausen in elementary school. An introductory physics textbook first sparked Ziegler's interest in science. It drove him to perform experiments in his home and to read extensively beyond his high school curriculum. He was also introduced to many notable individuals through his father, including Emil Adolf von Behring, recognized for the diphtheria vaccine. His extra study and experimentation help explain why he received an award for most outstanding student in his final year at high school in Kassel, Germany. He studied at the University of Marburg and was able to omit his first two semesters of study due to his extensive background knowledge. His studies were interrupted however, as during 1918 he was deployed to the front as a soldier to serve in World War I. He received his Ph.D. in 1920, studying under Karl von Auwers. His dissertation was on "Studies on semibenzole and related links" which led to three publications. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=558631 | 1,171,281 |
998,574 | In addition to these preventable issues, GWA studies have attracted more fundamental criticism, mainly because of their assumption that common genetic variation plays a large role in explaining the heritable variation of common disease. Indeed, it has been estimated that for most conditions the SNP heritability attributable to common SNPs is <0.05. This aspect of GWA studies has attracted the criticism that, although it could not have been known prospectively, GWA studies were ultimately not worth the expenditure. GWA studies also face criticism that the broad variation of individual responses or compensatory mechanisms to a disease state cancel out and mask potential genes or causal variants associated with the disease. Additionally, GWA studies identify candidate risk variants for the population from which their analysis is performed, and with most GWA studies stemming from European databases, there is a lack of translation of the identified risk variants to other non-European populations. Alternative strategies suggested involve linkage analysis. More recently, the rapidly decreasing price of complete genome sequencing have also provided a realistic alternative to genotyping array-based GWA studies. It can be discussed if the use of this new technique is still referred to as a GWA study, but high-throughput sequencing does have potential to side-step some of the shortcomings of non-sequencing GWA. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11808249 | 998,056 |
1,607,026 | This disagreement is central because of the way the association between blood ties/genetic relationships and altruism are conceptualized by many biologists. It is frequently understood by biologists that inclusive fitness theory makes predictions about "how behaviour is mediated" in both humans and other animals. For example, a recent experiment conducted on humans by the evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar and colleagues was, as they understood it, designed "to test the prediction that altruistic behaviour is mediated by Hamilton's rule" (inclusive fitness theory) and more specifically that "If participants follow Hamilton's rule, investment (time for which the [altruistic] position was held) should increase with the recipient's relatedness to the participant. In effect, we tested whether investment flows differentially down channels of relatedness." From their results, they concluded that ""human altruistic behaviour is mediated by Hamilton's rule ... humans behave in such a way as to maximize inclusive fitness: they are more willing to benefit closer relatives than more distantly related individuals."" (Madsen et al. 2007). This position continues to be rejected by social anthropologists as being incompatible with the large amount of ethnographic data on kinship and altruism that their discipline has collected over many decades, that demonstrates that in many human cultures, kinship relationships (accompanied by altruism) do not necessarily map closely onto genetic relationships. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=50797822 | 1,606,121 |
1,823,833 | He is a leading scholar of the ethnosymbolist school (established by Smith) that highlights the role of embedded historical memories in the formation of modern nations. His first monograph, "The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism" was nominated in 1988 for the Political Studies Association Prize and is widely cited by scholars as a pioneering contribution to the field of Irish history and cultural nationalism. Hutchinson rejected earlier scholarship that tended to conflate nationalism and state-seeking movements. He argued that cultural nationalists should be differentiated from political nationalists, in having as their goal the defence of the nation as a community and its historical distinctiveness rather than on the achievement of a state. He explains how cultural nationalists act as moral innovators, emerging at times of crisis, to form movements that offer new maps of identity based on historical myths, that in turn may inspire programmes of socio-political regeneration. Hutchinson argues such movements operate sometimes as complementary to and sometimes as communitarian alternatives to political nationalism, when statist strategies are defunct. He emphasises the dynamic the role of historians and artists, showing how they interact with religious reformists and a discontented modernising intelligentsia to form national identities. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24468757 | 1,822,795 |
802,773 | In 1980 Paul Bottomley joined the GE Research Center in Schenectady, New York. His team ordered the highest field-strength magnet then available, a 1.5 T system, and built the first high-field device, overcoming problems of coil design, RF penetration and signal-to-noise ratio to build the first whole-body MRI/MRS scanner. The results translated into the highly successful 1.5 T MRI product-line, delivering over 20,000 systems. In 1982, Bottomley performed the first localized MRS in the human heart and brain. After starting a collaboration on heart applications with Robert Weiss at Johns Hopkins, Bottomley returned to the university in 1994 as Russell Morgan Professor and director of the MR Research Division. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55363309 | 802,344 |
1,386,097 | In 1969, Boyle and George E. Smith invented the charge-coupled device (CCD), for which they have jointly received the Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal in 1973, the 1974 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, the 2006 Charles Stark Draper Prize, and the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics. The CCD allowed NASA to send clear pictures to Earth back from space. It is also the technology that powers many digital cameras today. Smith said of their invention: "After making the first couple of imaging devices, we knew for certain that chemistry photography was dead." Eugene Gordon and Mike Tompsett, two now-retired colleagues from Bell labs, claim that its application to photography was not invented by Boyle. Boyle was Executive Director of Research for Bell Labs from 1975 until his retirement in 1979. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3626302 | 1,385,330 |
358,339 | Welders are often exposed to dangerous gases and particulate matter. Processes like flux-cored arc welding and shielded metal arc welding produce smoke containing particles of various types of oxides. The size of the particles in question tends to influence the toxicity of the fumes, with smaller particles presenting a greater danger. This is because smaller particles have the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier. Fumes and gases, such as carbon dioxide, ozone, and fumes containing heavy metals, can be dangerous to welders lacking proper ventilation and training. Exposure to manganese welding fumes, for example, even at low levels (<0.2 mg/m), may lead to neurological problems or to damage to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or central nervous system. Nano particles can become trapped in the alveolar macrophages of the lungs and induce pulmonary fibrosis. The use of compressed gases and flames in many welding processes poses an explosion and fire risk. Some common precautions include limiting the amount of oxygen in the air, and keeping combustible materials away from the workplace. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44883 | 358,153 |
480,639 | Countries that explicitly prohibit any use of human germline engineering for reproduction are: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canada, Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, and the Vatican | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=53827714 | 480,395 |
70,777 | Armen Mulkidjanian's zinc world (Zn-world) hypothesis extends Wächtershäuser's pyrite hypothesis. The Zn-world theory proposes that hydrothermal fluids rich in HS interacting with cold primordial ocean (or Darwin's "warm little pond") water precipitated metal sulfide particles. Oceanic hydrothermal systems have a zonal structure reflected in ancient volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposits. They reach many kilometers in diameter and date back to the Archean. Most abundant are pyrite (FeS), chalcopyrite (CuFeS), and sphalerite (ZnS), with additions of galena (PbS) and alabandite (MnS). ZnS and MnS have a unique ability to store radiation energy, e.g. from ultraviolet light. When replicating molecules were originating, the primordial atmospheric pressure was high enough (>100 bar) to precipitate near the Earth's surface, and ultraviolet irradiation was 10 to 100 times more intense than now; hence the photosynthetic properties mediated by ZnS provided the right energy conditions for the synthesis of informational and metabolic molecules and the selection of photostable nucleobases. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19179706 | 70,750 |
697,149 | Stocks off the eastern United States are severely overfished; a 2006 stock assessment survey by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) showed that its population had dropped to 15–20% of 1970s levels. In 1997, the dusky shark was identified as a Species of Concern by the NMFS, meaning that it warranted conservation concern but there was insufficient information for listing on the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). Commercial and recreational retention of dusky sharks was prohibited in 1998, but this has been of limited effectiveness due to high bycatch mortality on multi-species gear. In addition, some 2,000 dusky sharks were caught by recreational fishers in 2003 despite the ban. In 2005, North Carolina implemented a time/area closure to reduce the impact of recreational fishing. To aid conservation efforts, molecular techniques using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have been developed that can identify whether marketed shark parts (e.g. fins) are from prohibited species like the dusky shark, versus similar allowed species such as the sandbar shark. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4283435 | 696,785 |
1,126,420 | On October 31, 2019, the Centrus subsidiary American Centrifuge Operating (ACO), LLC signed a three-year contract with the DOE (HALEU Demonstration Contract Number 89303519CNE000005) to deploy a cascade of centrifuges to demonstrate production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU). The intended use of this HALEU is as fuel for future advanced reactors which require this higher, but still far below weapons grade, enrichment. Under the contract, described as the HALEU Demonstration Program, ACO is to deploy sixteen AC-100M centrifuges in a cascade to produce HALEU at 19.75% uranium-235 enrichment. This demonstration is of importance to US national security as, as of the early 2020s, the US does not have operable US-origin uranium enrichment technology. Centrus requested an amendment to the existing NRC Materials license SNM-2011 for their American Centrifuge Plant to be able to possess the planned HALEU material in April 2020. As of early 2021, publicly-described plans are for licensing approval to be received and the improved AC-100M machines to be installed by the end of 2021. After the ACP license SNM-2011 is amended to possess the HALEU material, the licensee programs and NRC oversight conducted under the Lead Cascade license SNM-7003 will be transferred to ACP license SNM-2011 and SNM-7003 terminated. On June 11, 2021, the NRC issued the revised license to Centrus for approval to operate sixteen centrifuges to demonstrate production of High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium until May 31, 2022 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12653614 | 1,125,843 |
101,131 | The Veilbreaker expansion was released on September 7, 2022. The expansion features the return of Grineer soldier Kahl-175, previously playable during the New War quest. After freeing himself from Narmer control, Kahl, with the help of Daughter Entrati and the Tenno, has emerged as the Origin System's newest hero, intending to 'break Narmer' by freeing its captives, disrupting their operations and destroying their armies. Kahl is playable during weekly "Break Narmer" missions and features a more traditional cover shooter style of gameplay, in contrast to the fast movement and parkour of the Tenno. The expansion also introduces Kahl's Garrison, a camp on Earth founded by Kahl as both a base of operations and a settlement for any captives freed during Kahl's missions. Here, the player is able to customise Kahl with various colors, materials and armor pieces, as well as purchase items in exchange for Stock, a trading currency collected from completing challenges during "Break Narmer" missions. Veilbreaker also introduces Archon Hunts, difficult missions where players must hunt down and defeat the Archons, monstrous Sentient-Warframe hybrids created during the Old War, previously fought as bosses during the New War quest. Veilbreaker also made several quality-of-life changes to certain game functions, introduced the 50th Warframe, the Spartan-inspired Styanax, and distributed him for free for a limited time between 7 and 21 September to celebrate this milestone. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38333096 | 101,086 |
1,085,340 | The concept of using cross-correlation to measure shifts in datasets has been known for a long time, and it has been applied to digital images since at least the early 1970s. The present-day applications are almost innumerable and include image analysis, image compression, velocimetry, and strain estimation. Much early work in DIC in the field of mechanics was led by researchers at the University of South Carolina in the early 1980s and has been optimized and improved in recent years. Commonly, DIC relies on finding the maximum of the correlation array between pixel intensity array subsets on two or more corresponding images, which gives the integer translational shift between them. It is also possible to estimate shifts to a finer resolution than the resolution of the original images, which is often called "subpixel" registration because the measured shift is smaller than an integer pixel unit. For subpixel interpolation of the shift, there are other methods that do not simply maximize the correlation coefficient. An iterative approach can also be used to maximize the interpolated correlation coefficient by using nonlinear optimization techniques. The nonlinear optimization approach tends to be conceptually simpler and can handle large deformations more accurately, but as with most nonlinear optimization techniques , it is slower. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14642741 | 1,084,782 |
256,336 | Dijkstra was well known for his habit of carefully composing manuscripts with his fountain pen. The manuscripts are called EWDs, since Dijkstra numbered them with "EWD", his initials, as a prefix. According to Dijkstra himself, the EWDs started when he moved from the Mathematical Centre in Amsterdam to the Eindhoven University of Technology (then Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven). After going to Eindhoven, Dijkstra experienced a writer's block for more than a year. He distributed photocopies of a new EWD among his colleagues. Many recipients photocopied and forwarded their copies, so the EWDs spread throughout the international computer science community. The topics were computer science and mathematics, and included trip reports, letters, and speeches. These short articles span a period of 40 years. Almost all EWDs appearing after 1972 were hand-written. They are rarely longer than 15 pages and are consecutively numbered. The last one, No. 1318, is from 14 April 2002. Within computer science they are known as the EWD reports, or, simply the EWDs. More than 1300 EWDs have been scanned, with a growing number transcribed to facilitate search, and are available online at the Dijkstra archive of the University of Texas. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10018 | 256,202 |
1,779,201 | Tests were carried out starting in October 1940, and quickly demonstrated a number of minor problems. One of the minor issues is that the crosshairs on the tube that indicated the center would block the spot. A more serious concern was the lack of range information, which the FIU pilots considered critical. Hanbury Brown went to work on these issues, and returned an updated version in December. A U-shaped reticle in the center of the display provided a centre location that left the spot visible. Additionally, the circuitry included a second timebase that produced a longer signal as the fighter approached its target. The output was timed so the line was centred horizontally on the dot. This presented the range in an easily understandable fashion; the line looked like the wings of an aircraft, which naturally grow larger as the fighter approaches it. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43239543 | 1,778,199 |
1,583,055 | Indianmeal moths can infest a variety of foods found in the home. Coarsely ground grains, cereals, dried fruits, and herbs are common items the moths have been known to infest. They have also been found in animal feeds, such as dry dog food, fish food and even bird seed. Adult moths are small; generally, their length averages about inch, with a -inch wing span. As adults, the moths are easily identified by an overall grayish, dirty complexion. However, the wing tips have a bronze color that helps differentiate this particular moth from other household moths. The adults have a distinct forewing pattern, as well, which consists of a light-colored base with about two thirds of the distal area a red to copper color. The larval stage, or caterpillar, is characterized by a pinkish or yellowish-green body color with a dark brown head. The larval stage of the moth's life cycle is centered on food sources; during the last instar, these larvae are characterized by a movement towards a protected area to pupate. These caterpillars have the capacity to chew through plastic packaging and will often produce silk that loosely binds to food fragments. The pupal stage is generally observed as tiny cocoons that hang from the ceiling; these cocoons can also be found on walls, as well as near the food source. A female can lay over 200 eggs and will usually die after this process because adults Indianmeal moths do not eat. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16345498 | 1,582,165 |
394,885 | Xeon ( ) is a brand of x86 microprocessors designed, manufactured, and marketed by Intel, targeted at the non-consumer workstation, server, and embedded system markets. It was introduced in June 1998. Xeon processors are based on the same architecture as regular desktop-grade CPUs, but have advanced features such as support for ECC memory, higher core counts, more PCI Express lanes, support for larger amounts of RAM, larger cache memory and extra provision for enterprise-grade reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features responsible for handling hardware exceptions through the Machine Check Architecture. They are often capable of safely continuing execution where a normal processor cannot due to these extra RAS features, depending on the type and severity of the machine-check exception (MCE). Some also support multi-socket systems with two, four, or eight sockets through use of the Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI) bus. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=269920 | 394,690 |
450,165 | Both primary and secondary educators found they needed new skills and techniques as new technologies entered the field. Consequently, technology knowledge became an essential feature of teacher knowledge, not just an isolated item. Scholars proposed different frames about TPACK to promote a particular view, including ways and diverse perspectives on understanding and working with technology in the classroom. TPACK-based research has led to the emergence of a significant literature body. As of March 2021 this included: Articles: 1418, Chapters: 318, Books: 28, Dissertations: 438 (TPACK Newsletter #44, 2021). In 2019, Mishra offered that a change was needed in the original TPACK image. While the inner circles of the image enclosed aspects of teacher knowledge, the outer dotted line circle was simply labeled “Context” or “Contexts<nowiki>"</nowiki>. To resolve this issue, the outer dotted circle should be renamed ConteXtual Knowledge (XK) meaning “the teacher’s knowledge of the context." Contextual Knowledge would range from a “teacher’s awareness of available technologies to the teacher’s knowledge of the school, district, state, or national policies they operate within." This change highlights the organizational and situational constraints that teachers work within. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52738128 | 449,946 |
1,756,426 | The Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province has been a zone of active volcanism since it began to form 20 million years ago. Unlike other parts of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province has its origins in continental rifting—an area where the Earth's crust and lithosphere is being pulled apart. This differs from other portions of the Pacific Ring of Fire as it consists largely of volcanic arcs formed by subducting oceanic crust at oceanic trenches along continental margins circling the Pacific Ocean. The continental crust at the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province is being stretched at a rate of about per year. This incipient rifting formed as a result of the Pacific Plate sliding northward along the Queen Charlotte Fault, on its way to the Aleutian Trench, which extends along the southern coastline of Alaska and the adjacent waters off the southern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. As a result, volcanism in the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province is also not related to back-arc basin volcanism. When the stored energy is suddenly released by slippage across the fault at irregular intervals, it can create very large earthquakes, such as the magnitude 8.1 Queen Charlotte Islands earthquake of 1949. As these far-field forces stretch the North American crust, the near surface rocks fracture along steeply dipping faults parallel to the rift zone. Hot magma rises between these fractures to create passive or effusive eruptions. Volcanoes within the Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province are located along short northerly trending segments which in the northern part of the volcanic province are unmistakenably involved with north-trending rift structures, including synvolcanic grabens and grabens with one major fault line along only one of the boundaries (half-grabens). Grabens are indicative of tensional forces and crustal stretching. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5301203 | 1,755,435 |
1,848,787 | Kyrgyzstan has been involved in a project launched by the European Union in September 2013, IncoNet CA. The aim of this project is to encourage Central Asian countries to participate in research projects within Horizon 2020, the European Union's eighth research and innovation funding program. The focus of this research projects is on three societal challenges considered as being of mutual interest to both the European Union and Central Asia, namely: climate change, energy and health. IncoNet CA builds on the experience of earlier projects which involved other regions, such as Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and the Western Balkans. IncoNet CA focuses on twinning research facilities in Central Asia and Europe. It involves a consortium of partner institutions from Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Portugal, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. In May 2014, the European Union launched a 24-month call for project applications from twinned institutions – universities, companies and research institutes – for funding of up to €10,000 to enable them to visit one another's facilities to discuss project ideas or prepare joint events like workshops. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54244683 | 1,847,729 |
642,866 | The Educational Technology Leadership Program, through the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University, offered a Master's degree beginning in 1992. The program, developed by Dr. William Lynch, originally delivered course content in association with Jones Intercable's Mind Extension University (ME/U). Classes were broadcast via satellite late at night, and student communicated through a Bulletin Board system. Their first cohort graduated in May, 1994. By early 1996, Bill Robie transitioned the ETL Program to the Internet where the graduate degree program was offered completely online. He assembled a set of web-based tools and HTML pages that allowed asynchronous communication among students and faculty, the delivery of lectures, drop boxes for assignments, and other features that have since become the core toolkit for course management systems. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51875172 | 642,527 |
1,481,697 | Seasonal food played an important role in the treatment of ancient disease. According to the Hippocratic author of "Airs, Waters and Places" (there remains debate as to whether Hippocrates himself wrote the Hippocratic Corpus), it is important that a physician learn astronomy because, "the changes of the seasons produce changes in diseases,". In the same Hippocratic text, the author goes on to explain that villages facing east and that are exposed to winds from the north-east, south-east and west tended to be healthy and, "the climate in such a district may be compared with the spring in that there are no extremes of heat and cold. As a consequence, diseases in such a district are few and not severe". As an example of the importance of seasonal food on maintaining balance of the humours and preventing disease is given by Hippocrates in "On Regimen" when the authors state that, "in winter, to secure a dry and hot body it is better to eat wheaten bread, roast meat, and few vegetables; whereas in summer it is appropriate to eat barley cake, barley meat and softer foods," (qtd. in Wilkins et al., p. 346). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48369072 | 1,480,863 |
518,739 | The first batch of canned slugs to be irradiated was received on December 20, 1943, allowing the first plutonium to be produced in early 1944. The slugs used pure metallic natural uranium, in air-tight aluminum cans long and in diameter. Each channel was loaded with between 24 and 54 fuel slugs. The reactor went critical with of slugs, but in its later life was operated with as much as . To load a channel, the radiation-absorbing shield plug was removed, and the slugs inserted manually in the front (east) end with long rods. To unload them, they were pushed all the way through to the far (west) end, where they fell onto a neoprene slab and fell down a chute into a pool of water that acted as a radiation shield. Following weeks of underwater storage to allow for decay in radioactivity, the slugs were delivered to the chemical separation building. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4110093 | 518,470 |
1,363,513 | Following the 2016 Rio Olympics, Drouin began training for decathlons with the goal of making the 2018 Commonwealth Games team in the multi-event. Drouin said of the professional event change that "it's to get back to what I was doing in college, which was really when I was most confident competing, I kind of felt my strongest, felt like I was in my best physical shape, and I just have a whole lot of fun doing that. It's something I really haven't done in a while, but I'm very excited to get back into that. I was always a pretty strong hurdler in college. I really love throwing javelin. I was always competitive in multis in college and I loved it." On April 7, 2017, at the Sam Adam Multi Event meet in Montecito, California, he set the world decathlon best in the high jump at . His jump and decathlon performance improved upon a record that had stood since 1977. He did add that he still intends to compete in the high jump at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London to defend his world title. Plagued by injury problems prior to the 2017 World Championships, Drouin still hoped to compete in the pinnacle championship of the year. Unfortunately the injury to his achilles tendon forced him, like fellow Canadian and medal favourite Andre De Grasse, to miss the championships. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36295260 | 1,362,760 |
2,182,657 | Stylidium stenophyllum is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the genus "Stylidium" (family Stylidiaceae) that was described by A.R. Bean in 2000. It is an erect annual plant that grows from 30 to 40 cm tall. Linear leaves, about 7-25 per plant, are scattered along the stems. The leaves are generally 36–86 mm long and 1.5-2.5 mm wide. This species generally has three to four scapes and cymose inflorescences that are 28–39 cm long. Flowers are white or pink. "S. stenophyllum" is endemic to the far northeastern Northern Territory of Australia and is only known from the type location. It has only been recorded from one sandstone monolith known as a beehive formation (so named due to its shape) where less than 100 clumps of plants survive at the concentration of about 10 individual plants per clump. For this reason, A.R. Bean suggested a vulnerable conservation status. However it currently appears on neither the IUCN Red List nor the EPBC Act list of threatened flora. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12160616 | 2,181,410 |
879,390 | More technically, the form of the mitochondria is the matrix, with inner mitochondrial membranes (IMM) and inner membrane spaces (IMS), all housing protein sites. Mitochondria produce ATP by the oxidation of hydrogen ions from carbohydrates and fats. This process utilizes electrons in an electron transport chain (ETP). The genealogy of electron transport proceeds as follows: Electrons from NADH are transferred to NADH dehydrogenase (complex I protein), which is located in the IMM. Electrons from complex I are transferred to coenzyme Q to make CoQH; next, electrons flow to cytochrome-containing IMM protein (complex III), which further pushes electrons to cytochrome c, where electrons flow to complex IV; complex IV is the final IMM protein complex of the ETC respiratory chain. This final protein allows electrons to reduce oxygen from an O molecule to a single O, so that it can bind to the hydrogen ions to produce HO. The energy produced from the movement of electrons through the ETC induces proton movement (known as H pumping) out of the mitochondria matrix into the IMS. Because any charge movement creates a magnetic field, the IMS now houses a capacitance across the matrix. The capacitance is akin to potential energy, or what is known as a potential barrier. This potential energy guides ATP synthesis via complex V (ATP synthase), which conflates ADP with another P to create ATP by pushing protons (H) back into the matrix (this process is known as oxidative phosphorylation). Finally, the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) houses a voltage-dependent anion channel called the VDAC. This site is important for converting energy signals into electro-chemical outputs for ATP transfer. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13537626 | 878,927 |
1,224,504 | One's views regarding population ethics have the potential to significantly shape what one thinks of as the most pressing moral priorities. For instance, the total view in population ethics and related theories, have been claimed to imply "longtermism", defined by the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford as "the view that the primary determinant of the differences in value of the actions we take today is the effect of those actions on the very long-term future". On this basis, Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom argues that the prevention of existential risks to humanity is an important global priority in order to preserve the value of the many lives that could come to exist in the future. Others who have endorsed the asymmetry between bringing into existence happy and miserable lives have also supported a longtermist approach and focused on the prevention of risks of scenarios of future suffering, especially those where suffering would prevail over happiness or where there might be astronomical amounts of suffering. Longtermist ideas have been taken up and are put into practice by several organizations associated with the effective altruism community, such as the Open Philanthropy Project and 80,000 Hours, as well as by philanthropists like Dustin Moskovitz and Ben Delo. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17250163 | 1,223,844 |
359,861 | A concern as of late 2010 relates to the adoption of a new analytical methodology, and a possible impact this may have in clinical medicine. Most clinical laboratories now align their creatinine measurements against a new standardized isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) method to measure serum creatinine. IDMS appears to give lower values than older methods when the serum creatinine values are relatively low, for example 0.7 mg/dL. The IDMS method would result in a comparative overestimation of the corresponding calculated GFR in some patients with normal renal function. A few medicines are dosed even in normal renal function on that derived GFR. The dose, unless further modified, could now be higher than desired, potentially causing increased drug-related toxicity. To counter the effect of changing to IDMS, new FDA guidelines have suggested limiting doses to specified maxima with carboplatin, a chemotherapy drug. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=65623 | 359,674 |
2,076,174 | After a few years of graphic inactivity, after World War II he took up lithography, generally on zinc plate. Between 1945 and 1951 he made several portraits of Françoise Gilot, his new partner, mother of his children Claude and Paloma. During this period he also tackled subjects such as fauns, doves and still lifes, as well as several versions of Cranach's "Susanna in the Bath". Among his works of those years stand out: "La mujer sentada y la mujer dormida" (1947), "Retrato de Góngora" (1947), "Los faunos músicos" (1948) and his famous "Paloma" (1949), which was taken as the logo of the World Peace Congress. Since 1955, his relationship with Jacqueline Roque, his second wife, led him to a stylistic turn, whereby he returned to expressionist deformation and grotesque and erotic themes. His love for bullfighting returned and, in 1957, he illustrated the life of the bullfighter Pepe-Hillo, working mainly in linoleum. In 1966 he returned to etching, with an increasingly sexual theme, in which the women are huge, fat figures. Between 1970 and 1971 he produced a series of 156 prints for the Leiris gallery, generally of women lying down and men looking at them. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=72166508 | 2,074,977 |
729,420 | Stephen Barrett, writing on the Quackwatch website, dismissed holistic dentistry and much of Price's research, alleging that "Price made a whirlwind tour of primitive areas, examined the natives superficially, and jumped to simplistic conclusions. While extolling their health, he ignored their short life expectancy and high rates of infant mortality, endemic diseases, and malnutrition. While praising their diets for not producing cavities, he ignored the fact that malnourished people don't usually get many cavities." Barrett asserted that dental problems experienced by native peoples resulted from "abuse" of sweet, fatty, and salty food; exposure to new germs; inactivity; and alcoholism, and described Price's studies on bacterial leakage from root canals as "poorly designed". The Foundation has written a rebuttal to Barrett's claims. William T. Jarvis' article "The Myth of the Healthy Savage" states that his work on primitive diets is still widely sourced by dentists who emphasize nutrition, but argues that it had shortcomings that Price overlooked due to a steadfast ideologically motivated adherence to the notion that the modern diet led to physical degeneration. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7020762 | 729,036 |
1,378,197 | Cleaning agents used range from heavy-duty industrial solvents and detergents such as liquid freon, trichlorethylene and anhydrous trisodium phosphate, followed by rinsing in deionised water. These materials are now generally deprecated as being environmentally unsound and an unnecessary health hazard. Some strong all-purpose household detergents have been found to do the job adequately. They are diluted with water before use, and used hot for maximum efficacy. Ultrasonic agitation, shaking, pressure spraying and tumbling using glass or stainless steel beads or mild ceramic abrasives are effectively used to speed up the process where appropriate. Thorough rinsing and drying is necessary to ensure that the equipment is not contaminated by the cleaning agent. Rinsing should continue until the rinse water is clear and does not form a persistent foam when shaken. Drying using heated gas – usually hot air – is common and speeds up the process. Use of a low oxygen fraction drying gas can reduce flash-rusting of the interior of steel cylinders. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39574992 | 1,377,435 |
1,205,534 | Laser spectroscopy is a spectroscopic technique that uses [[laser]]s to be able determine the emitted frequencies of matter. The laser was invented because spectroscopists took the concept of its predecessor, the [[maser]], and applied it to the visible and infrared ranges of light. The maser was invented by [[Charles H. Townes|Charles Townes]] and other spectroscopists to stimulate matter to determine the radiative frequencies that specific atoms and molecules emitted. While working on the maser, Townes realized that more accurate detections were possible as the frequency of the microwave emitted increased. This led to an idea a few years later to use the visible and eventually the infrared ranges of light for spectroscopy that became a reality with the help of [[Arthur Leonard Schawlow|Arthur Schawlow]]. Since then, lasers have gone on to significantly advance experimental spectroscopy. The laser light allowed for much higher precision experiments specifically in the uses of studying collisional effects of light as well as being able to accurately detect specific wavelengths and frequencies of light, allowing for the invention of devices such as laser atomic clocks. Lasers also made spectroscopy that used time methods more accurate by using speeds or decay times of photons at specific wavelengths and frequencies to keep time. Laser spectroscopic techniques have been used for many different applications. One example is using laser spectroscopy to detect compounds in materials. One specific method is called Laser-induced Fluorescence Spectroscopy, and uses spectroscopic methods to be able to detect what materials are in a solid, liquid, or gas, "[[in situ]]". This allows for direct testing of materials, instead of having to take the material to a lab to figure out what the solid, liquid, or gas is made of. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=35980148 | 1,204,889 |
1,682,810 | According to Digital Trends, Nintendo's Wii and the WiiU successor product have both been discontinued as of March 2016. This exemplifies one of the issues arising from the adoption of inexpensive off-the-shelf consumer products re-purposed for medical measurements. Further issues with such adoption arise from the regulatory and standards bodies around the world. Force platforms used for measuring a patients balance and mobility performance are classified by the U.S. FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) as Class I Medical Devices. As such they must be manufactured to certain quality standards as established by ISO (International Standards Organization)ISO 9001 Quality Management Principles or ISO 13485 Medical Device Quality Management Systems. The European Union's MDD (Medical Device Directive) also classifies force platforms used for medical measurements as Class I medical devices and require medical CE certification for importation and use in the European Union for such medical applications. A notable recent standard, ASTM F3109-16 Standard Test Method for Verification of Multi-Axis Force Measuring Platforms presents a framework for manufactures and users to verify the performance of Force platforms across the extents of their working surface. Standards such as these are used by manufactures of medical grade force platforms to ensure that measurements made on a patient population are accurate, repeatable and reliable. In short, inexpensive consumer grade entertainment components may be a poor choice for medical measurements given the lack of continuity of such products and their legal, regulatory and perhaps quality unsuitability for such applications. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14664386 | 1,681,867 |
1,790,819 | In northern Nigeria, research surrounding intensive agricultural practices has been taking place for a number of decades, especially in the Kano Close-Settled Zone. In the nineteenth century, the intensive agriculture carried out in this area of dense population surrounding Kano city was noted by western visitors like Henry Barth. By the year 1913 there was a maximum of one third of farmland in fallow in any particular year. The population densities of the rural area in this region climbed from 243 to 348 people per square kilometer between 1962 and 1991, but the land area under permanent cultivation remained approximately the same. In this time period the cultivated land per capital went from 0.36 to 0.29 hectares. However, there was no evidence of any significant decrease in the fertility of the cereal. Furthermore, the average cereal crop yields as well as number of farm trees remained constant. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26203387 | 1,789,813 |
1,087,466 | The typical Han-era Chinese household contained a nuclear family with an average of four to five members, unlike in later dynasties when multiple generations and extended family members commonly lived in the same household. Families were patrilineal, which made the father the supreme head of the house. Arranged marriages were the norm, while a new wife was expected to join the clan of her husband. Having sons over daughters was considered extremely important for the sake of carrying on ancestor worship. Although girls and women were expected by custom and Confucian tradition to behave passively towards their male relatives, mothers were given a familial status above that of their sons. Women also engaged in various professions in and outside of the home and were given protection under the law. The empress was superior in status to the male relatives of her consort clan, while the mother of the emperor—the empress dowager had the authority to override his decisions and choose his successor (if one had not been appointed before his death). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21786810 | 1,086,907 |
1,731,702 | The Australian Business Roundtable on Climate Change released a report, The Business Case For Early Action, which showed that significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved at an affordable cost to the Australian economy – an important step in getting business and government support. ACF led the development of the Roundtable in 2006 – which included CEOs from BP Australia, Insurance Australia Group, Origin Energy, Swiss Re, Visy Industries, Westpac and ACF. The Roundtable commissioned CSIRO and the Allen Consulting Group to determine climate impacts on Australia and model the economic effects of a 60% reduction in emissions by 2050 and supported the call to act, and act early, on the important issue of climate change. The Report highlighted the fact that many Australian industries, including two of the nation's largest export earners – agriculture and tourism – may be seriously impacted if action on climate change is delayed. Recommendations put forward by the Roundtable called for Australian Governments to work with business and the community to develop a policy framework that allows industry to respond effectively. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1189447 | 1,730,726 |
1,845,827 | A device generating linear or rotational motion using carbon nanotube(s) as the primary component, is termed a nanotube nanomotor. Nature already has some of the most efficient and powerful kinds of nanomotors. Some of these natural biological nanomotors have been re-engineered to serve desired purposes. However, such biological nanomotors are designed to work in specific environmental conditions (pH, liquid medium, sources of energy, etc.). Laboratory-made nanotube nanomotors on the other hand are significantly more robust and can operate in diverse environments including varied frequency, temperature, mediums and chemical environments. The vast differences in the dominant forces and criteria between macroscale and micro/nanoscale offer new avenues to construct tailor-made nanomotors. The various beneficial properties of carbon nanotubes makes them the most attractive material to base such nanomotors on. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25379184 | 1,844,772 |
393,708 | Cosmologist Anthony Aguirre, while personally skeptical of most accounts of the many-worlds interpretation, in his book "Cosmological Koans" writes that "[p]erhaps reality actually is this bizarre, and we really do subjectively 'survive' any form of death that is both instantaneous and binary." Aguirre notes, however, that most causes of death do not fulfill these two requirements: "If there are degrees of survival, things are quite different." If loss of consciousness was binary like in the thought experiment, the quantum suicide effect would prevent an observer from subjectively falling asleep or undergoing anesthesia, conditions in which mental activities are greatly diminished but not altogether abolished. Consequently, upon most causes of death, even outwardly sudden, if the quantum suicide effect holds true an observer is more likely to progressively slip into an attenuated state of consciousness, rather than remain fully awake by some very improbable means. Aguirre further states that quantum suicide as a whole might be characterized as a sort of "reductio ad absurdum" against the current understanding of both the many-worlds interpretation and theory of mind. He finally hypothesizes that a different understanding of the relationship between the mind and time should remove the bizarre implications of necessary subjective survival. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48685 | 393,513 |
429,626 | Sensory information collected by the peripheral nervous system is transmitted to specific areas of the primary somatosensory area in the parietal cortex according to its origin on any given part of the body. For each neuron in the primary somatosensory area, there is a corresponding region of the skin that is stimulated or inhibited by that neuron. The regions that correspond to a location on the somatosensory cortex are mapped by a homonculus. This corresponding region of the skin is referred to as the neuron's receptive field. The most sensitive regions of the body have the greatest representation in any given cortical area, but they also have the smallest receptive fields. The lips, tongue, and fingers are examples of this phenomenon. Each receptive field is composed of two regions: a central excitatory region and a peripheral inhibitory region. One entire receptive field can overlap with other receptive fields, making it difficult to differentiate between stimulation locations, but lateral inhibition helps to reduce that overlap. When an area of the skin is touched, the central excitatory region activates and the peripheral region is inhibited, creating a contrast in sensation and allowing sensory precision. The person can then pinpoint exactly which part of the skin is being touched. In the face of inhibition, only the neurons that are most stimulated and least inhibited will fire, so the firing pattern tends to concentrate at stimulus peaks. This ability becomes less precise as stimulation moves from areas with small receptive fields to larger receptive fields, e.g. moving from the fingertips to the forearm to the upper arm. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4455796 | 429,416 |
395,557 | In at least one segment of the food industry, the dairy industry, some countries (at least the U.S., Australia, France and Hungary) have adopted ""true protein"" measurement, as opposed to crude protein measurement, as the standard for payment and testing: "True protein is a measure of only the proteins in milk, whereas crude protein is a measure of all sources of nitrogen and includes nonprotein nitrogen, such as urea, which has no food value to humans. ... Current milk-testing equipment measures peptide bonds, a direct measure of true protein." Measuring peptide bonds in grains has also been put into practice in several countries including Canada, the UK, Australia, Russia and Argentina where near-infrared reflectance (NIR) technology, a type of infrared spectroscopy is used. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recommends that only amino acid analysis be used to determine protein in, "inter alia", foods used as the sole source of nourishment, such as infant formula, but also provides: "When data on amino acids analyses are not available, determination of protein based on total N content by Kjeldahl (AOAC, 2000) or similar method ... is considered acceptable." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6531493 | 395,362 |
195,509 | Between 1993 and 2022, Cal Poly Pomona's dominant landmark was a futurist-styled administrative facility known as the CLA Building which was designed by Antoine Predock and opened in 1993. The building's peculiar shape (standing out by a triangular-shaped "skyroom" atop its eight-story tower) became a symbol of the university; in addition, its close location to film studios based in the Hollywood borough of Los Angeles have prompted its inclusion in motion pictures such as "Gattaca" and "Impostor". In 2013, the California State University Board of Trustees voted to demolish the building and replace it with a new academic/faculty complex because of severe seismic risks, as determined when now reviewed in the context of more recent seismic research than was required by building codes at the time of its original design and building permit. Despite the fact that numerous other buildings on the CPP campus are much older, which brings into question their adequacy as they too sit on the same presumed fault line, only the CLA building was to be completely demolished by the end of summer 2022. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=489505 | 195,409 |
1,703,315 | The Chronicle of Higher Education said of Gonzalez and the Discovery Institute's claims of discrimination "At first glance, it seems like a clear-cut case of discrimination ... But a closer look at Mr. Gonzalez's case raises some questions about his recent scholarship and whether he has lived up to his early promise." The Chronicle observed that Gonzalez had no major grants during his seven years at ISU, had published no significant research during that time and had only one graduate student finish a dissertation. The Discovery Institute misrepresents an op-ed by John Hauptman, one of Gonzalez's colleagues in the physics department. Hauptman states clearly that Gonzalez's work falls far short of what scientists know to be science, containing not one single number, not one single measurement or test of any kind. "I believe that I fully met the requirements for tenure at ISU," said Gonzalez. On May 8, 2007, Gonzalez appealed the decision. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4140198 | 1,702,359 |
1,329,331 | The generative semantics framework took the opposite view, positing that syntactic structures are computed on the basis of meanings. In this approach, meanings were generated directly by the grammar as deep structures, and were subsequently transformed into recognizable sentences by transformations. This approach necessitated more complex underlying structures than those proposed by Chomsky, and thus more complex transformations. Despite this additional complexity, the approach was appealing in several respects. First, it offered a powerful mechanism for explaining synonymity. In his initial work in generative syntax, Chomsky motivated transformations using active/passive pairs such as "I hit John" and "John was hit by me", which have different surface forms despite their identical truth conditions. Generative semanticists wanted to account for "all" cases of synonymity in a similar fashion, which proved to be a challenge given the tools available at the time. Second, the theory had a pleasingly intuitive structure: the form of a sentence was quite literally "derived" from its meaning via transformations. To some, interpretive semantics seemed rather "clunky" and "ad hoc" in comparison. This was especially so before the development of trace theory. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2301427 | 1,328,603 |
71,436 | Following a tumultuous pre-season in which they went through a period of administration and were saved by late investment, Manor Marussia arrived in Melbourne with a car that had passed its mandatory crash tests but had completed no testing. After the team's arrival in Australia, while assembling the cars, it was discovered that their computers had been wiped completely clean of all data in preparation for auction, and they ultimately could not compete in the Grand Prix. The team managed to get their cars running and on the racetrack by the second round in Malaysia, and were able to set times within 107% of the leading times in practice, giving stewards reasonable grounds to allow the team to race when they failed to do so in qualifying. Merhi was able to finish the race three laps down in fifteenth, while Stevens did not start. Manor Marussia continued to show signs of consistency, with both cars qualifying within 107%, starting, and finishing both Grands Prix in China and Bahrain. They were one of two teams, the other being McLaren, to return to Europe without a championship point. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39263987 | 71,409 |
2,122,352 | Due to the forced relocation of Korean artists and craftsmen to Japanese islands after various sieges, the majority of Koryo Buddhist art is currently preserved in Japan. However, far-reaching influences of Koryo Buddhism can still be observed in modern Korea and beyond. One of the main iconographies in Koryo paintings, the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, began to be worshiped as an independent deity during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). A modern interpretation of Ksitigarbha as a deity by Korean artist Kim Seok-gon maintains clear aspects of Koryo Buddhist elements, including a plain background, the use of primary colors, and a similar visual layout to the Amitabha triad. Moving away from the original use of such Buddhist art, Kim wanted to “reflect contemporary values in the traditional artwork and shed overtly religious images”, according to his 2021 interview in "The Korea Times". The initial Pure Land Buddhism beliefs that produced art which worshipers could project into to achieve salvation have now evolved in modern Korea into a greater emphasis on universal identification by any person, regardless of their goals or beliefs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=68487731 | 2,121,132 |
123,406 | The process of cloning is represented variously in fiction. Many works depict the artificial creation of humans by a method of growing cells from a tissue or DNA sample; the replication may be instantaneous, or take place through slow growth of human embryos in artificial wombs. In the long-running British television series "Doctor Who", the Fourth Doctor and his companion Leela were cloned in a matter of seconds from DNA samples ("The Invisible Enemy", 1977) and then – in an apparent homage to the 1966 film "Fantastic Voyage" – shrunk to microscopic size to enter the Doctor's body to combat an alien virus. The clones in this story are short-lived, and can only survive a matter of minutes before they expire. Science fiction films such as "The Matrix" and "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones" have featured scenes of human foetuses being cultured on an industrial scale in mechanical tanks. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6910 | 123,355 |
309,950 | The chief disadvantage of electrification is the high cost for infrastructure: overhead lines or third rail, substations, and control systems. Public policy in the U.S. interferes with electrification: higher property taxes are imposed on privately owned rail facilities if they are electrified. The EPA regulates exhaust emissions on locomotive and marine engines, similar to regulations on car & freight truck emissions, in order to limit the amount of carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons, nitric oxides, and soot output from these mobile power sources. Because railroad infrastructure is privately owned in the U.S., railroads are unwilling to make the necessary investments for electrification. In Europe and elsewhere, railway networks are considered part of the national transport infrastructure, just like roads, highways and waterways, so are often financed by the state. Operators of the rolling stock pay fees according to rail use. This makes possible the large investments required for the technically and, in the long-term, also economically advantageous electrification. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=390883 | 309,783 |
381,218 | A number of the pillars were thrown down by either natural causes or iconoclasts, and gradually rediscovered. One was noticed in the 16th century by the English traveller Thomas Coryat in the ruins of Old Delhi. Initially he assumed that from the way it glowed that it was made of brass, but on closer examination he realized it was made of highly polished sandstone with upright script that resembled a form of Greek. In the 1830s James Prinsep began to decipher them with the help of Captain Edward Smith and George Turnour. They determined that the script referred to King Piyadasi which was also the epithet of an Indian ruler known as Ashoka who came to the throne 218 years after Buddha's enlightenment. Scholars have since found 150 of Ashoka's inscriptions, carved into the face of rocks or on stone pillars marking out a domain that stretched across northern India and south below the central plateau of the Deccan. These pillars were placed in strategic sites near border cities and trade routes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1398017 | 381,023 |
1,545,838 | A distributed firewall's independence on topological constraints supports the enforcement of policies, whether hosts are members or outsiders of the overall policy domain. They base their decisions on authenticating mechanisms which are not inherent characteristics of the network's layout. Moreover, compromise of an endpoint either by a legitimate user or intruder will not weaken the overall network in a way that leads directly to compromise of other machines, given the fact that the deployment of virtual private networks prevents sniffing of communication traffic in which the attacked machine is not involved. But on the end-point itself, assuming that a machine has been taken over by an adversary must lead to the conclusion that the policy enforcement mechanisms themselves may be broken. The installation of backdoors on this machine can be done quite easily once the security mechanisms are flawed, and with the lack of a perimeter firewall, there is no trusted entity which might prevent arbitrary traffic entering or leaving the compromised host. Additionally, tools can be used that allow tunneling of another application's communication, and can not be prevented without proper knowledge of the decrypting credentials; moreover, given the fact that an attack has been performed successfully, the verifying mechanisms of the machine themselves may not be trusted anymore. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23870546 | 1,544,964 |
1,983,663 | TLS is a powerful geodetic imaging tool ideal for supporting a wide spectrum of user applications in many different environments. Geoscience applications to date include detailed mapping of fault scarps, geologic outcrops, fault-surface roughness, frost polygons, lava lakes, dikes, fissures, glaciers, columnar joints and hillside drainages. Repeat TLS surveys allow the imaging and measurement of surface changes through time due, for example, to surface processes, volcanic deformation, ice flow, beach morphology transitions, and post-seismic slip. The incorporation of GPS measurements provides accurate georeferencing of TLS data in an absolute reference frame. The addition of digital photography yields photorealistic 3D images. It has been demonstrated that TLS derived 3D imagery is a unique and powerful tool for educational and outreach applications as well. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25430759 | 1,982,524 |
1,634,891 | The term "in silico" was first used in 1989 at a workshop "Cellular Automata: Theory and Applications" by a mathematician from National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The term "in silico radiation oncology", a precursor of generic "in silico" medicine was coined and first introduced by G. Stamatakos in Proceedings of the IEEE in 2002. The same researcher coined and introduced the more generic term "in silico oncology". "In silico" medicine is considered an extension of previous work using mathematical models of biological systems. It became apparent that the techniques used to model biological systems has utility to explain and predict dynamics in the medical field. The first fields in medicine to use "in silico" modeling were genetics, physiology and biochemistry. The field saw a dramatic influx of data when the human genome was sequenced in the 1980s and 1990s. Concurrently the increase in available computational power allowed for modeling of complex systems that were previously impractical. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39351494 | 1,633,968 |
324,536 | Mining, refining, and recycling of rare earths have serious environmental consequences if not properly managed. Low-level radioactive tailings resulting from the occurrence of thorium and uranium in rare-earth element ores present a potential hazard and improper handling of these substances can result in extensive environmental damage. In May 2010, China announced a major, five-month crackdown on illegal mining in order to protect the environment and its resources. This campaign is expected to be concentrated in the South, where mines – commonly small, rural, and illegal operations – are particularly prone to releasing toxic waste into the general water supply. However, even the major operation in Baotou, in Inner Mongolia, where much of the world's rare-earth supply is refined, has caused major environmental damage. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology estimated that cleanup costs in Jiangxi province at $5.5 billion. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=145440 | 324,363 |
1,844,854 | PCCOER conducts various activities for the overall development of its students. Several structured courses with added value are offered for the technical development of students. In Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics, etc., Honor Courses with options for Major and minor have been introduced per SPPU guidelines. Students participate in a variety of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, such as NSS camps, Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan, social and environmental cause events, International Yoga Day Celebration, Sports, Cultural Events, Induction Programmes, Farewell Programmes, Art workshops, Quizzes, Veteran's Visits, etc. The Institute and each department publish their own cultural and technical journals to which students enthusiastically contribute. Each department has its own Students' Association, which organizes numerous events each semester. Efforts are made to instil national pride and ethics. The academic programme begins each day with the National Anthem and a brief yoga session to improve concentration. We firmly believe that ancient traditions and contemporary technology are the two wheels on which an engineering aspirant's chariot leaps to success! | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49445710 | 1,843,800 |
257,286 | Chris Thursten of PC Gamer rated the game 86/100, considering it to be "potentially a classic", depending on Frontier's ability to build on the "broad but somewhat shallow foundations" of the released version. Thursten described the gameplay experience as "exhilarating excitement, matched by nothing else this year, contrasted with moments of emptiness, frustration, and boredom". Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer gave the game 8/10 and considered it to be "probably the most immersive and compelling recreation of deep space ever seen in gaming", while finding some of the gameplay repetitive. Andy Kelly of GamesRadar gave the game 4/5, calling it a "compelling space sandbox" and a "welcome return" of the "Elite" franchise, but felt that the game at launch was "missing a lot of important features, especially when it comes to multiplayer". Roger Hargreaves of the Metro gave it 7/10, describing the game as a "solid start" that had yet to fulfil its potential. Reviewing the game for IGN, Rob Zacny called it "one of the most enthralling and evocative space combat and trade sim games I've ever played" and "also one of the most boring", seeing the balance of "brief, intense emotional peaks and long, shallow valleys of boredom" as "fundamental to Elite's identity". Reviewing a later version of the game in April 2015, after playing the game since launch, Lee Hutchinson from Ars Technica described "Dangerous" as "so damn good that it transcends its problems". Joel Peterson of Destructoid gave the PlayStation 4 version of the game 9/10, calling it "A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1895977 | 257,152 |
564,528 | Unlike the majority of ScotRail's fleet, the Class 385 is maintained under a ten-year contract with Hitachi; under this arrangement, management is based at the company's central planning contract office in Glasgow while the work is performed at the Craigentinny train maintenance centre. The fleet is actively monitored by a team of maintenance controllers and riding inspectors, there is a heavy emphasis on delay attribution and fleet performance metrics, particularly for reoccurring issues. The Class 385 incorporates Hitachi's Fleet Monitoring Tool, which is intended to consolidate data collection in real time and make relevant data readily accessible to various stakeholders, including ScotRail and Network Rail. Each trainset is subject to a balanced examination system, under which such inspections occur every 40 days or 20,000 miles, although considerations towards greater condition-based maintenance have been made. Early issues with subsystems such as the brakes, door setup and speed control unit have been mostly resolved via software-based measures. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48450453 | 564,238 |
736,434 | Since the physical behavior of singularities is unknown, if singularities can be observed from the rest of spacetime, causality may break down, and physics may lose its predictive power. The issue cannot be avoided, since according to the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems, singularities are inevitable in physically reasonable situations. Still, in the absence of naked singularities, the universe, as described by the general theory of relativity, is deterministic: it is possible to predict the entire evolution of the universe (possibly excluding some finite regions of space hidden inside event horizons of singularities), knowing only its condition at a certain moment of time (more precisely, everywhere on a spacelike three-dimensional hypersurface, called the Cauchy surface). Failure of the cosmic censorship hypothesis leads to the failure of determinism, because it is yet impossible to predict the behavior of spacetime in the causal future of a singularity. Cosmic censorship is not merely a problem of formal interest; some form of it is assumed whenever black hole event horizons are mentioned. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7609 | 736,046 |
9,371 | They invented and developed arithmetic by using several different number systems including a mixed radix system with an alternating base 10 and base 6. This sexagesimal system became the standard number system in Sumer and Babylonia. They may have invented military formations and introduced the basic divisions between infantry, cavalry, and archers. They developed the first known codified legal and administrative systems, complete with courts, jails, and government records. The first true city-states arose in Sumer, roughly contemporaneously with similar entities in what are now Syria and Lebanon. Several centuries after the invention of cuneiform, the use of writing expanded beyond debt/payment certificates and inventory lists to be applied for the first time, about 2600 BC, to messages and mail delivery, history, legend, mathematics, astronomical records, and other pursuits. Conjointly with the spread of writing, the first formal schools were established, usually under the auspices of a city-state's primary temple. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=50521 | 9,367 |
448,632 | As a result of the MAUD Committee's findings, a new directorate known as Tube Alloys was created to coordinate the nuclear weapons development effort. Sir John Anderson, the Lord President of the Council, became the minister responsible, and Wallace Akers from Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was appointed the director of Tube Alloys. Peierls, Chadwick and Simon were appointed to its Technical Committee, which was chaired by Akers. Its first meeting, in November 1941, was attended by two American visitors, Harold Urey and George B. Pegram. Later that year, Peierls flew to the United States, where he visited Urey and Fermi in New York, Arthur H. Compton in Chicago, Robert Oppenheimer in Berkeley, and Jesse Beams in Charlottesville, Virginia. When George Kistiakowsky argued that a nuclear weapon would do little damage as most of the energy would be expended heating the air, Peierls, Fuchs, Geoffrey Taylor and J. G. Kynch worked out the hydrodynamics to refute this. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1024759 | 448,414 |
118,970 | With the increasing realization in the first half of the 19th century that species had changed and split through the ages, classification increasingly came to be seen as branches on the evolutionary tree of life. The publication of Darwin's theory of evolution in 1859 gave this view increasing weight. Thomas Henry Huxley, an early advocate of evolutionary theory, proposed a revised taxonomy based on a concept strongly resembling clades,<ref name="original text w/ figures">Huxley, T.H. (1876): Lectures on Evolution. "New York Tribune". Extra. no 36. In Collected Essays IV: pp 46-138 original text w/ figures</ref> although the term "clade" itself would not be coined until 1957 by his grandson, Julian Huxley. For example, the elder Huxley grouped birds with reptiles, based on fossil evidence. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6682 | 118,922 |
2,134,500 | The DR2700 started public service on October 31, 1966, under the name of "The Glory of China" Express, and with its light body and a blazing 69 mph design speed, it still holds the pre-electrification record for the fastest time for traversing Taiwan's Western Line in its entirety, in a time of just four hours and 40 minutes, beating the previous "Flying Formosan" record by 20 minutes. It was a lot more comfortable and much faster than the steam locomotive services, which were the best available in 1956. The total number of power cars built was 25, along with 6 trailers, and they usually worked in a formation of 2 power cars, or two power cars with one trailer in the middle, since the power cars were the only ones equipped with driving cabs, and given the modest output of the engine, it was not possible for just the one power car to haul another trailer alone. The DR2700 series bodywork was based on the Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC), since Tokyu Car Corporation at that time had a license from the Budd Company to incorporate its stainless steel train body and bogie technology from the latter, which it also did for the TRA DR2800 series built in the early-1980s. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36628413 | 2,133,275 |
1,720,743 | "Climate change threatens natural resources and public health of tribal communities. Rising temperatures and increasing droughts are likely to decrease the availability of certain fish, hunt, and wild plants on which the Navajo and other tribes have relied for generations. Water may be less available for domestic consumption, especially for those who are not served by either municipal systems or reliable wells, which includes about 30 percent of the people on the Navajo Nation, who must haul water to meet daily needs. Recurring drought and rising temperatures may degrade the land itself. In the Navajo Nation, for example, the Great Falls Dune Field has advanced almost a mile in the last 60 years, threatening roads, homes, and grazing areas. Extreme heat may also create health problems for those without electricity, including about 40 percent of the people on the Navajo reservation". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54374981 | 1,719,773 |
575,416 | The P.24F, armed with a pair of 20mm Oerlikon FF cannon and two machine guns, gave the Greeks a temporary edge in combat until lack of ammunition and spares forced EVA to re-arm all P.24Fs with 4x Colt–Browning 7.7 mm MG40 machine guns. Overall, the P.24s performed gallantly during the early period of the conflict, holding their own against impossible numerical odds and despite the fact that their main target were enemy bombers, which forced them to fight at a disadvantage against enemy fighters. Italian claims of easy superiority over the Albanian front were vastly exaggerated and their kill claims even exceeded the total number of operational fighters on the Greek side. In total, Greek fighter losses in combat came to 24 aircraft, while the Greek fighter pilots claimed to have achieved 64 confirmed kills and 24 probables, around two-thirds of which were bombers). By April 1941, however, lack of spares and attrition had forced EVA to merge the five surviving P.24s into one understrength squadron, which was supported by five Gloster Gladiator Mk I and II's and the two surviving MB.151s. That month, these remaining fighters fought hopelessly against the Luftwaffe onslaught, scoring 4 kills (two Hs-126, one Ju 87B and one Do 17) while losing most of their surviving aircraft on the ground. None of the Puławski fighters are believed to have survived the conflict. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1139061 | 575,122 |
1,882,389 | However, after the early success of rule-based systems there arose more pervasive use of frame languages instead of or more often combined with rules. Frames provided a more natural way to represent certain types of concepts, especially concepts in subpart or subclass hierarchies. This led to development of a new kind of inference engine known as a classifier. A classifier could analyze a class hierarchy (also known as an ontology) and determine if it was valid. If the hierarchy was invalid the classifier would highlight the inconsistent declarations. For a language to utilize a classifier it required a formal foundation. The first language to successfully demonstrate a classifier was the KL-ONE family of languages. The LOOM language from ISI was heavily influenced by KL-ONE. LOOM also was influenced by the rising popularity of object-oriented tools and environments. Loom provided a true object-oriented capability (e.g. message passing) in addition to Frame language capabilities. Classifiers play a significant role in the vision for the next generation Internet known as the Semantic Web. The Web Ontology Language provides a formalism that can be validated and reasoned on via classifiers such as Hermit and Fact++. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43342432 | 1,881,308 |
229,288 | "Sister Peak" (Comfortless Cove Hydrothermal Field, , elevation −2996 m), "Shrimp Farm" and "Mephisto" (Red Lion Hydrothermal Field, , elevation −3047 m), are three hydrothermal vents of the black smoker category, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near Ascension Island. They are presumed to have been active since an earthquake shook the region in 2002. These vents have been observed to vent phase-separated, vapor-type fluids. In 2008, sustained exit temperatures of up to 407 °C were recorded at one of these vents, with a peak recorded temperature of up to 464 °C. These thermodynamic conditions exceed the critical point of seawater, and are the highest temperatures recorded to date from the seafloor. This is the first reported evidence for direct magmatic-hydrothermal interaction on a slow-spreading mid-ocean ridge. The initial stages of a vent chimney begin with the deposition of the mineral anhydrite. Sulfides of copper, iron, and zinc then precipitate in the chimney gaps, making it less porous over the course of time. Vent growths on the order of 30 cm (1 ft) per day have been recorded.[11] An April 2007 exploration of the deep-sea vents off the coast of Fiji found those vents to be a significant source of dissolved iron (see iron cycle). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=972800 | 229,171 |
1,005,084 | Sawitzke A, et al. 2010 evaluated the efficacy and safety of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, alone or in combination, as well as celecoxib and placebo on painful knee osteoarthritis over 2 years as a continuation of the GAIT trial. This was a 24-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, enrolling 662 people with knee osteoarthritis who satisfied radiographic criteria (Kellgren/Lawrence grade 2 or 3 changes and baseline joint space width of at least 2 mm). This subset continued to receive their randomized treatment (glucosamine 500 mg three times daily, chondroitin sulfate 400 mg three times daily, the combination of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, celecoxib 200 mg daily, or placebo) over 24 months. The primary outcome was a 20% reduction in pain over 24 months as measured by the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Secondary outcomes included an Outcome Measures in Rheumatology/Osteoarthritis Research Society International response and change from baseline in WOMAC pain and function. Over 2 years, none of the treatments (not even the positive control celecoxib) achieved a clinically important difference in WOMAC pain or function as compared with placebo. Adverse reactions were similar among treatment groups and serious adverse events were rare for all treatments. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=504825 | 1,004,566 |
1,263,901 | In Fig. 3 a mass spectrum of air inside a laboratory (obtained with a time-of-flight (TOF) based PTR-MS instrument), is shown. The peaks on "m/z" 19, 37 and 55 (and their isotopes) represent the reagent ions (HO) and their clusters. On "m/z" 30 and 32 NO and O, which are both impurities originating from the ion source, appear. All other peaks correspond to compounds present in typical laboratory air (e.g. high intensity of protonated acetone on "m/z" 59). If one takes into account that virtually all peaks visible in Fig. 3 are in fact double, triple or multiple peaks (isobaric compounds) it becomes obvious that for PTR-MS instruments selectivity is at least as important as sensitivity, especially when complex samples / compositions are analyzed. One methods for improving the selectivity is high mass resolution. When the PTR source is coupled to a high resolution mass spectrometer isobaric compounds can be distinguished and substances can be identified via their exact mass. Some PTR-MS instruments are despite of the lack of a mass filter between the ion source and the drift tube capable of switching the reagent ions (e.g. to NO or O). With the additional information obtained by using different reagent ions a much higher level of selectivity can be reached, e.g. some isomeric molecules can be distinguished. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18730256 | 1,263,213 |
1,977,052 | With Pawsey's help, £630,000 was raised from the Ford Foundation to build the Culgoora radio-heliograph. Years later he was to admit "When I think back I wonder how I had the nerve to do it." The heliograph stayed in operation for 17 years from 1967, providing a huge amount of data and insight into the way the solar corona works and the relationship between solar and terrestrial phenomena. Wild published more than 70 papers in this field. The heliograph also played a leading supporting role in both the Skylab missions of 1973–74 and the solar maximum mission of 1980–81, providing real-time observations of coronal activity. It was de-commissioned in 1984 to make way for the Australia Telescope and transferred to the Ionospheric Prediction Service, where it is still used today for space weather monitoring of solar activity. Now there are at least 20 ground-based radio-spectrographs operating around the world. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=610478 | 1,975,914 |
916,036 | "Taq"'s optimum temperature for activity is 75–80 °C, with a half-life of greater than 2 hours at 92.5 °C, 40 minutes at 95 °C and 9 minutes at 97.5 °C, and can replicate a 1000 base pair strand of DNA in less than 10 seconds at 72 °C. At 75–80 °C, "Taq" reaches its optimal polymerization rate of about 150 nucleotides per second per enzyme molecule, and any deviations from the optimal temperature range inhibit the extension rate of the enzyme. A single "Taq" synthesizes about 60 nucleotides per second at 70 °C, 24 nucleotides/sec at 55 °C, 1.5 nucleotides/sec at 37 °C, and 0.25 nucleotides/sec at 22 °C. At temperatures above 90 °C, "Taq" demonstrates very little or no activity at all, but the enzyme itself does not denature and remains intact. Presence of certain ions in the reaction vessel also affects specific activity of the enzyme. Small amounts of potassium chloride (KCl) and magnesium ion (Mg) promote "Taq"'s enzymatic activity. "Taq" polymerase is maximally activated at 50mM KCl and just the right concentration of Mg which is determined by the concentration of nucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs). High concentrations of KCl and Mg inhibit "Taq"'s activity. Interestingly, the common metal ion chelator, EDTA, directly binds to "Taq" in the absence of these metal ions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2193281 | 915,554 |
217,691 | Water has one of the highest thermal capacities at 4.2 kJ/(kg⋅K) whereas concrete has about one third of that. On the other hand, concrete can be heated to much higher temperatures (1200 °C) by for example electrical heating and therefore has a much higher overall volumetric capacity. Thus in the example below, an insulated cube of about would appear to provide sufficient storage for a single house to meet 50% of heating demand. This could, in principle, be used to store surplus wind or solar heat due to the ability of electrical heating to reach high temperatures. At the neighborhood level, the Wiggenhausen-Süd solar development at Friedrichshafen in southern Germany has received international attention. This features a () reinforced concrete thermal store linked to () of solar collectors, which will supply the 570 houses with around 50% of their heating and hot water. Siemens-Gamesa built a 130 MWh thermal storage near Hamburg with 750 °C in basalt and 1.5 MW electric output. A similar system is scheduled for Sorø, Denmark, with 41–58% of the stored 18 MWh heat returned for the town's district heating, and 30–41% returned as electricity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2465250 | 217,583 |
39,317 | James Heilman, an emergency room physician involved in the debate, compared it to the publication of the eye test chart: though people are likewise free to memorize the eye chart before an eye test, its general usefulness as a diagnostic tool for eyesight has not diminished. For those opposed to exposure, publication of the inkblots is described as a "particularly painful development", given the tens of thousands of research papers which have, over many years, "tried to link a patient's responses to certain psychological conditions." Controversy over Wikipedia's publication of the inkblots has resulted in the blots being published in other locations, such as "The Guardian" and "The Globe and Mail". Later that year, in August 2009, two psychologists filed a complaint against Heilman with the Saskatchewan medical licensing board, arguing that his uploading of the images constituted unprofessional behavior. In 2012, two articles were published showing consequences of the publication of the images in Wikipedia. The first one studied negative attitudes towards the test generated during the Wikipedia-Rorschach debate, while the second suggested that reading the Wikipedia article could help to fake "good" results in the test. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=276250 | 39,302 |
400,689 | Media that have different indexes of refraction for different polarization modes are called "birefringent". Well known manifestations of this effect appear in optical wave plates/retarders (linear modes) and in Faraday rotation/optical rotation (circular modes). If the path length in the birefringent medium is sufficient, plane waves will exit the material with a significantly different propagation direction, due to refraction. For example, this is the case with macroscopic crystals of calcite, which present the viewer with two offset, orthogonally polarised images of whatever is viewed through them. It was this effect that provided the first discovery of polarization, by Erasmus Bartholinus in 1669. In addition, the phase shift, and thus the change in polarization state, is usually frequency dependent, which, in combination with dichroism, often gives rise to bright colours and rainbow-like effects. In mineralogy, such properties, known as pleochroism, are frequently exploited for the purpose of identifying minerals using polarization microscopes. Additionally, many plastics that are not normally birefringent will become so when subject to mechanical stress, a phenomenon which is the basis of photoelasticity. Non-birefringent methods, to rotate the linear polarization of light beams, include the use of prismatic polarization rotators which use total internal reflection in a prism set designed for efficient collinear transmission. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=22483 | 400,490 |
898,608 | Atiyah collaborated with many mathematicians. His three main collaborations were with Raoul Bott on the Atiyah–Bott fixed-point theorem and many other topics, with Isadore M. Singer on the Atiyah–Singer index theorem, and with Friedrich Hirzebruch on topological K-theory, all of whom he met at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1955. His other collaborators included; J. Frank Adams (Hopf invariant problem), Jürgen Berndt (projective planes), Roger Bielawski (Berry–Robbins problem), Howard Donnelly (L-functions), Vladimir G. Drinfeld (instantons), Johan L. Dupont (singularities of vector fields), Lars Gårding (hyperbolic differential equations), Nigel J. Hitchin (monopoles), William V. D. Hodge (Integrals of the second kind), Michael Hopkins (K-theory), Lisa Jeffrey (topological Lagrangians), John D. S. Jones (Yang–Mills theory), Juan Maldacena (M-theory), Yuri I. Manin (instantons), Nick S. Manton (Skyrmions), Vijay K. Patodi (spectral asymmetry), A. N. Pressley (convexity), Elmer Rees (vector bundles), Wilfried Schmid (discrete series representations), Graeme Segal (equivariant K-theory), Alexander Shapiro (Clifford algebras), L. Smith (homotopy groups of spheres), Paul Sutcliffe (polyhedra), David O. Tall (lambda rings), John A. Todd (Stiefel manifolds), Cumrun Vafa (M-theory), Richard S. Ward (instantons) and Edward Witten (M-theory, topological quantum field theories). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20698 | 898,133 |
679,245 | The Royal Navy, which had recently received the German code books captured from the beached cruiser , was aware that an operation was taking place, but was not sure where the Germans would strike. Therefore, the Admiralty ordered David Beatty's 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, the six battleships of the 2nd Battle Squadron, and several cruisers and destroyers to intercept the German battlecruisers. However, Beatty's task force nearly ran headlong into the entire High Seas Fleet. At 6:20, Beatty's destroyer screen came into contact with the German torpedo boat "V155". This began a confused, 2-hour long battle between the British destroyers and the German cruiser and destroyer screen, often at very close range. At the time of the first encounter, the "Helgoland"-class battleships were less than away from the six British dreadnoughts; this was well within firing range, but in the darkness, neither British nor German admirals were aware of the composition of their opponents' fleets. Admiral Ingenohl, loath to disobey the Kaiser's order to not risk the battlefleet without his express approval, concluded that his forces were engaging the screen of the entire Grand Fleet, and so, 10 minutes after the first contact, he ordered a turn to port to a southeast course. Continued attacks delayed the turn, but by 6:42, it had been carried out. For about 40 minutes, the two fleets were steaming on a parallel course. At 7:20, Ingenohl ordered a further turn to port, which put his ships on a course for German waters. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10127309 | 678,891 |
91,005 | The first evidence that the limbic system was responsible for the cortical representation of emotions was discovered in 1939, by Heinrich Kluver and Paul Bucy. Kluver and Bucy, after much research, demonstrated that the bilateral removal of the temporal lobes in monkeys created an extreme behavioral syndrome. After performing a temporal lobectomy, the monkeys showed a decrease in aggression. The animals revealed a reduced threshold to visual stimuli, and were thus unable to recognize objects that were once familiar. MacLean expanded these ideas to include additional structures in a more dispersed "limbic system", more on the lines of the system described above. MacLean developed the intriguing theory of the "triune brain" to explain its evolution and to try to reconcile rational human behavior with its more primal and violent side. He became interested in the brain's control of emotion and behavior. After initial studies of brain activity in epileptic patients, he turned to cats, monkeys, and other models, using electrodes to stimulate different parts of the brain in conscious animals recording their responses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=200405 | 90,965 |
53,319 | All cars sold with LS motors were equipped with aluminum blocks while most trucks received cast iron blocks. LS engines enjoy several notable improvements over previous generations of small blocks. The lower section of the block incorporates deep side skirts along with 4-bolt cross-bolted main bearing caps and a structural cast aluminum oil pan. Nearly all LS motors were manufactured with high airflow aluminum cylinder heads, even in truck applications. The design uses long runner intake manifolds to enhance airflow within the engines operating range. These dry intake manifolds omit the coolant passages of earlier generations to minimize heat uptake in the air charge. They are made from a light weight yet durable nylon polymer. A large improvement was made to the ignition system by forgoing the camshaft driven distributor of the early small blocks in favor of valve cover mounted ignition coils, one for each cylinder. LS ignition timing is handled by the ECU via camshaft and crankshaft position sensors. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=877441 | 53,299 |
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