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1,712,267 | Plasma activation (or plasma functionalization) is a method of surface modification employing plasma processing, which improves surface adhesion properties of many materials including metals, glass, ceramics, a broad range of polymers and textiles and even natural materials such as wood and seeds. Plasma functionalization also refers to the introduction of functional groups on the surface of exposed materials. It is widely used in industrial processes to prepare surfaces for bonding, gluing, coating and painting. Plasma processing achieves this effect through a combination of reduction of metal oxides, ultra-fine surface cleaning from organic contaminants, modification of the surface topography and deposition of functional chemical groups. Importantly, the plasma activation can be performed at atmospheric pressure using air or typical industrial gases including hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. Thus, the surface functionalization is achieved without expensive vacuum equipment or wet chemistry, which positively affects its costs, safety and environmental impact. Fast processing speeds further facilitate numerous industrial applications. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8198899 | 1,711,302 |
812,302 | A robust simulator is one that will react to any input in a reasonable way. For instance, if we imagine a high speed racecar video game, from one simulation step to the next, it is conceivable that the cars would advance a substantial distance along the race track. If there is a shallow obstacle on the track (such as a brick wall), it is not entirely unlikely that the car will completely leap over it, and this is very undesirable. In other instances, the "fixing" that posteriori algorithms require isn't implemented correctly, resulting in bugs that can trap characters in walls or allow them to pass through them and fall into an endless void where there may or may not be a deadly bottomless pit, sometimes referred to as "black hell", "blue hell", or "green hell", depending on the predominant color. These are the hallmarks of a failing collision detection and physical simulation system. "" is an infamous example of a game with a failing or possibly missing collision detection system. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=171552 | 811,869 |
1,698,230 | Finds of "Sinotherium" are rather rare and often only fragmentary. The first fossils, which also led to the description of the rhinoceros genus, came to light at the beginning of the 20th century and were discovered by JG Andersson in the Baode district in the Chinese province of Shanxi in deposits from the Upper Miocene. These mainly consisted of isolated teeth, but also an upper jaw fragment with the preserved row of teeth from the second premolar to the penultimate molar and a lower jaw fragment.<ref name="ringstrom1923"/<ref name="ringstrom1924"/ From north-western Mongolia near Chono-Khariakha, a 72 cm long, well-preserved lower jaw was discovered which dates to the Lower Pliocene.<ref name="kondrashov2000"/ Other individual finds are known from Kazakhstan, including a rear part of the skull with part of the teeth and several skeletal elements of the body. The most complete skull to date was found in the upper area of the Liushu Formation near Houaigou in the Guanghe District of Gansu Province. The Liushu Formation is about 100 m thick and over wide ranges of Linxia basin digested. This section is dated to about 7 to 6.4 million years and thus belongs to the end of the Miocene. The geological deposits of the Linxia Basin have already produced numerous well-preserved fossil rhinoceros remains, including numerous representatives of the Elasmotheria. Only the part of the snout is missing from the skull and it provided evidence of the location of the horns in "Sinotherium". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7329829 | 1,697,276 |
438,447 | According to CNES, "Hermes" would have been subject to more extreme re-entry conditions than the Space Shuttle due to its smaller size resulting in the vehicle being subject to higher aerothermal pressures. The baseline thermal protection, which was to be capable of withstanding temperatures of 1,400-1,600 °C for a minimum of 20 minutes and studied by Dassault and SEP, would have consisted of carbon elements with an anti-oxidant coating applied to portions of the nose and leading edges of the wings, while thermal tiles were to have covered the underside of the wing and fuselage. These tiles, which were to be fastened into place, would have employed thin, reinforced ceramic-carbon honeycomb composite insulating layers separated by thin sheets of metal alloy to reflect the heat; an alternative concept for the tiles would have employed higher metallic portions in place of ceramics. The upper surfaces of the vehicle, which would have been subject to less heat than the lower surfaces, would have used flexible blanket-like low-density, glassfibre-ceramic layers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=272950 | 438,233 |
1,479,815 | Although other diseases (i.e. systemic lupus erythematosus) have been implicated, the C4 gene is also being investigated for the role it may play in schizophrenia risk and development. In the Wu et al. study, they utilized the real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) as an assay to determine the copy number variance (CNV) or genetic diversity of C4. Accordingly, with these results, future prognoses, flares, and remissions will become more feasible to determine. The results basically show copy number variants as a mechanism to effect genetic diversity. As discussed before, the different phenotypes allowed for by the varying genetic variety of complement C4 include a wide range of plasma or serum C4 proteins among two isotypes—C4A and C4B—with multiple protein allotypes that can have unique physiological functions. CNVs are sources of inherent genetic diversity and are engaged in gene-environment interaction. CNVs (and associated polymorphisms) play a role in filling in the gap towards understanding the genetic basis of quantitative traits and the different susceptibilities to autoimmune and neurobiological diseases. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9693587 | 1,478,981 |
2,177,404 | By 1959, the White Sands Signal Corps Agency had doubled in size and scope of operations and was redesignated as the U.S. Army Signal Missile Support Agency (SMSA). SMSA was responsible for providing communication-electronic, meteorologic, and other support for the Army's missile and space program as well as conducting research and development in meteorology, electronic warfare, and missile vulnerability. It was involved in the installation of the vast communication network at White Sands Missile Range and developed the Sonic Observation of Trajectory and Impact of Missiles (SOTIM) System, which provided acoustic information on missiles upon re-entry and impact. These stations were installed at 16 different points at WSMR and were also equipped to measure wind speed, temperature, and humidity. SMSA also built meteorological rockets that could carry a 70-pound instrument package as high as 600,000 feet in order to obtain upper atmospheric data. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=70097933 | 2,176,160 |
170,208 | There is an extensive discussion in the scientific literature on what policies might be effective in responding to climate change. Some scientific bodies have recommended specific policies to governments (refer to the later sections of the article). The natural and social sciences can play a role in informing an effective response to climate change. However, policy decisions may require value judgements. For example, the US National Research Council has commented:The question of whether there exists a "safe" level of concentration of greenhouse gases cannot be answered directly because it would require a value judgment of what constitutes an acceptable risk to human welfare and ecosystems in various parts of the world, as well as a more quantitative assessment of the risks and costs associated with the various impacts of global warming. In general, however, risk increases with increases in both the rate and the magnitude of climate change. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=326324 | 170,118 |
1,604,289 | Recently, scientists have conducted experiments challenging the hierarchal process of visual perception of lightness. These experiments have suggested that the perception of lightness is derived from a much higher level of cognition involving the interpretation of illuminations and shadows rather than the process occurring at a basic single unit level. This idea is best explained by examining two different versions of two common visual illustrations. The first set of illustrations cause a phenomenon known as the induction effect. The image consists of two identical gray squares, surrounded by black and white respectively. The result is that the perception of the gray on the white is darker than the gray on the black. The traditional way of explaining this is through lateral inhibition. A cell with a receptive field in the gray square surrounded by the white receives more of the lateral inhibition and thus it does not fire as often and appears darker. The second set of illustrations explain the Craik-O'Brien-Cornsweet illusion. This includes a sharp transition from black to white in the middle then fading to medium gray on the other side. The other two diagrams exhibit the same two effects but with a much greater intensity. This is due to the shapes in the illustrations being 3-dimensional causing the human mind to interpret the seemingly darker areas as shadows. This was first introduced by Ernst Mach in 1866. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5212945 | 1,603,388 |
1,728,150 | By the Cambrian Period, approximately 541 to 485 million years ago, a shallow sea had spread westward over most of what is now West Virginia. Marine deposition took place throughout most of this and the succeeding Ordovician Period. During this total interval of about 370 million years, most of the rocks today exposed in Jefferson and eastern Berkeley counties and in scattered areas southwestward along the boundary were deposited. Rocks of the same age are found in abundance in the deep wells throughout the State. The Taconic orogeny near the end of Ordovician time formed a high mountainous area east of West Virginia. Near the end of Devonian time, the sea was rapidly retreating westward and the continental red beds of the Hampshire Formation were being deposited over most of the State. The last significant period of marine deposition was the Greenbrier Formation, predominantly limestone, approximately 330 million years ago. About 310 million years ago, the area of West Virginia was once again above sea level, but covered by vast areas of swamp. This condition prevailed for more than fifty million years, resulting in the deposition of thousands of feet of non-marine sandstone and shale, as well as the many important coal seams that we know today. The Appalachian Orogeny began roughly 270 to 225 million years ago, building the present-day Appalachian Mountains. Most of the state was uplifted, important deposition of sediments ceased, and a gradual process of erosion commenced. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16049803 | 1,727,176 |
535,208 | Australia's involvement in international peacekeeping operations has been diverse, and included participation in both United Nations sponsored missions, as well as those as part of ad hoc coalitions. Australians have been involved in more conflicts as peacekeepers than as belligerents; however "in comparative international terms, Australia has only been a moderately energetic peacekeeper." Although Australia has had peacekeepers in the field continuously for 60 years—being among the first group of UN military observers in Indonesia in 1947—its commitments have generally been limited, consisting mostly of small numbers of high-level and technical support troops such as signallers, engineers, medics, observers, and police. One significant commitment has been Australia's ongoing involvement with the long running Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai. The operational tempo started increasing in the mid-1990s, when Australia became involved in a series of high-profile operations, deploying significantly larger combat units in support of a number of missions including Cambodia, Rwanda, Somalia, East Timor, and the Solomon Islands. Australia has been involved in close to 100 separate missions, involving more than 30,000 personnel; 14 Australians have died during these operations. In addition, approximately 7,000 personnel have been involved in 66 different overseas humanitarian relief operations between 1918 and 2006. Ten personnel lost their lives during these missions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1323516 | 534,929 |
126,813 | The Danish scientist Nicolas Steno (1669) pioneered experimental investigations of crystal symmetry. Steno showed that the angles between the faces are the same in every exemplar of a particular type of crystal, and René Just Haüy (1784) discovered that every face of a crystal can be described by simple stacking patterns of blocks of the same shape and size. Hence, William Hallowes Miller in 1839 was able to give each face a unique label of three small integers, the Miller indices which remain in use today for identifying crystal faces. Haüy's study led to the correct idea that crystals are a regular three-dimensional array (a Bravais lattice) of atoms and molecules; a single unit cell is repeated indefinitely along three principal directions that are not necessarily perpendicular. In the 19th century, a complete catalog of the possible symmetries of a crystal was worked out by Johan Hessel, Auguste Bravais, Evgraf Fedorov, Arthur Schönflies and (belatedly) William Barlow (1894). From the available data and physical reasoning, Barlow proposed several crystal structures in the 1880s that were validated later by X-ray crystallography; however, the available data were too scarce in the 1880s to accept his models as conclusive. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34151 | 126,761 |
288,290 | Research on the effects of vitamin E on cardiovascular disease has produced conflicting results. An inverse relation has been observed between coronary heart disease and the consumption of foods high in vitamin E, and also higher serum concentration of α-tocopherol. In one of the largest observational studies, almost 90,000 healthy nurses were tracked for eight years. Compared to those in the lowest fifth for reported vitamin E consumption (from food and dietary supplements), those in the highest fifth were at a 34% lower risk of major coronary disease. Diet higher in vitamin E also may be higher in other, unidentified components that promote heart health, or people choosing such diets may be making other healthy lifestyle choices. There is some supporting evidence from randomized clinical trials (RCTs). A meta-analysis on the effects of α-tocopherol supplementation in RCTs on aspects of cardiovascular health reported that when consumed without any other antioxidant nutrient, the relative risk of heart attack was reduced by 18%. The results were not consistent for all of the individual trials incorporated into the meta-analysis. For example, the Physicians' Health Study II did not show any benefit after 400 IU every other day for eight years, for heart attack, stroke, coronary mortality, or all-cause mortality. The effects of vitamin E supplementation on incidence of stroke were summarized in 2011. There were no significant benefits for vitamin E versus placebo for risk of stroke, or for subset analysis for ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke, fatal stroke, or non-fatal stroke. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=54105 | 288,134 |
36,554 | This was followed on April 4, 1968, by Apollo 6 (AS-502) which carried a CSM and a LM Test Article as ballast. The intent of this mission was to achieve trans-lunar injection, followed closely by a simulated direct-return abort, using the service module engine to achieve another high-speed reentry. The Saturn V experienced pogo oscillation, a problem caused by non-steady engine combustion, which damaged fuel lines in the second and third stages. Two S-II engines shut down prematurely, but the remaining engines were able to compensate. The damage to the third stage engine was more severe, preventing it from restarting for trans-lunar injection. Mission controllers were able to use the service module engine to essentially repeat the flight profile of Apollo 4. Based on the good performance of Apollo6 and identification of satisfactory fixes to the Apollo6 problems, NASA declared the SaturnV ready to fly crew, canceling a third uncrewed test. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1461 | 36,542 |
10,100 | Groves did not relish the prospect of explaining to a Senate committee the loss of a billion dollars worth of plutonium, so a cylindrical containment vessel codenamed "Jumbo" was constructed to recover the active material in the event of a failure. Measuring long and wide, it was fabricated at great expense from of iron and steel by Babcock & Wilcox in Barberton, Ohio. Brought in a special railroad car to a siding in Pope, New Mexico, it was transported the last to the test site on a trailer pulled by two tractors. By the time it arrived, however, confidence in the implosion method was high enough, and the availability of plutonium was sufficient, that Oppenheimer decided not to use it. Instead, it was placed atop a steel tower from the weapon as a rough measure of how powerful the explosion would be. In the end, Jumbo survived, although its tower did not, adding credence to the belief that Jumbo would have successfully contained a fizzled explosion. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19603 | 10,096 |
2,052,507 | The gestural modes of narrative interaction Gorman launched in the iPad novella "Pry," co-authored with Danny Cannizzaro and released by the studio Tender Claws in 2014, have been analysed by scholars and reviewed in both literary and mainstream media including "Vice" and "Wired". A review in the LA Review of Books opened by stating that "Everyone interested in the contemporary state or future of literature as a hybrid tactile mediated experience should experience "Pry"," although the reviewer also notes that the novelty of the interaction design eclipsed the narrative itself. Digital poet John Cayley wrote that "Pry" "proclaims (..) that gestures will be an intimate and necessary aspect of the experience of reading, as reading changes for all of us". In an interview with Gorman for his book "The Digital Imaginary," cinema studies scholar and director Roderick Coover describes Gorman as "making a case for new media offering a more complex form of authoring". In an interview after winning the 2014 New Media Writing Prize, Gorman argues against overemphasising technological newness, saying that despite "Pry" using "new tool sets, but it is still a very human story". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=67491438 | 2,051,326 |
399,801 | The genetically modified organisms, including potato, tomato, and spinach are applied in the production of substances that stimulate the immune system to respond to specific pathogens. With the help of recombinant DNA techniques, the genes encoded for viral or bacterial antigens could be genetically transcribed and translated into plant cells. Antibodies are often produced in response to the introduction of antigens, in which the pathological microflora obtains the immune response towards specific antigens. The transgenic organisms are usually applied to use as oral vaccines, which allows the active substances to enter the human digestive system, targeting the alimentary tract in which stimulate a mucosal immune response. This technique has been widely used in vaccine production including rice, maize, and soybeans. Additionally, transgenic plants are widely used as bioreactors in the production of pharmaceutical proteins and peptides, including vaccines, hormones, human serum albumin (HSA), etc. The suitability of transgenic plants can helps meet the demand for the rapid growth of therapeutic antibodies. All this has given new impetus to the development of medicine. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=216102 | 399,602 |
801,843 | Historically, linear analog filter design has evolved through three major approaches. The oldest designs are simple circuits where the main design criterion was the Q factor of the circuit. This reflected the radio receiver application of filtering as Q was a measure of the frequency selectivity of a tuning circuit. From the 1920s filters began to be designed from the image point of view, mostly being driven by the requirements of telecommunications. After World War II the dominant methodology was network synthesis. The higher mathematics used originally required extensive tables of polynomial coefficient values to be published but modern computer resources have made that unnecessary. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1866533 | 801,415 |
1,322,176 | The first skeleton (divided between the Elche museum, where it was catalogued as GCP-CV-4229, and the Braunschweig museum, catalogued as NMB-1699-R) was made the holotype of the new genus and species "Spinophorosaurus nigerensis" by German palaeontologist Kristian Remes and colleagues of the German and Spanish teams in 2009. The generic name is composed of "spina", Latin for "spike"; "", Greek for "to bear"; and "sauros", which means lizard ("spine-bearing lizard" in full): the name refers to what was initially interpreted as osteoderms bearing spikes, which were later suggested to represent instead. The specific name refers to Niger, where the taxon was discovered. The holotype specimen consists of a , a postorbital bone, a squamosal, a , a pterygoid, a surangular, and a nearly complete postcranial skeleton, which lacks the sternum, antebrachium, manus, and pes. The second, paratype specimen (NMB-1698-R), consists of a partial skull and an incomplete postcranial skeleton. Elements preserved in this specimen but not the holotype include a premaxilla, maxilla, lacrimal, dentary, angular, the dorsal ribs of the right side, the humerus, and a pedal phalanx. The two specimens are considered to belong to the same taxon since the skeletal elements that overlapped between them were identical, and because of the proximity of the skeletons in the same stratigraphic layer. At the time it was described, "Spinophorosaurus" was the most completely known Middle Jurassic sauropod from North Africa, and by 2018 was considered to be one of the most complete early (non-neosauropod) sauropods. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24361405 | 1,321,450 |
1,076,348 | Gonzalez's treatment methods, which he's been using since 1987, are developed from previous work by the orthodontist William Donald Kelley. Gonzalez believed that cancer is caused by a poor diet, a problem compounded when one does not eat a diet that corresponds with one's "metabolic type"; and environmental pollution and daily stress only contribute to health problems. The Gonzalez regimen proposes as a treatment a cure-oriented change in life style and nutrition, the use of oral pancreatic enzymes, large numbers of dietary supplements (up to 150 pills per day) and twice daily coffee enemas. According to the National Cancer Institute, which co-sponsored with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine a clinical trial on Gonzalez's treatments produced "limited and inconclusive" results regarding the efficacy of the Gonzalez Regimen as a treatment for cancer. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18637103 | 1,075,793 |
1,221,215 | Nerve nets are found in species in the phyla Cnidaria (e.g. scyphozoa, box jellyfish, and sea anemones), Ctenophora, and Echinodermata. Cnidaria and Ctenophora both exhibit radial symmetry and are collectively known as coelenterates. Coelenterates diverged 570 million years ago, prior to the Cambrian explosion, and they are the first two phyla to possess nervous systems which differentiate during development and communicate by synaptic conduction. Most research on the evolution of nervous tissue concerning nerve nets has been conducted using cnidarians. The nervous systems of coelenterates allow for sensation, contraction, locomotion, and hunting/feeding behaviors. Coelenterates and bilaterians share common neurophysiological mechanisms; as such, coelenterates provide a model system for tracing the origins of neurogenesis. This is due to the first appearance of neurogenesis having occurred in eumetazoa, which was a common ancestor of coelenterates and bilaterians. A second wave of neurogenesis occurred after the divergence of coelenterata in the common ancestor of bilateria. Although animals with nerve nets lack a true brain, they have the ability to display complex movements and behaviors. The presence of a nerve net allows an organism belonging to the aforementioned phyla of Cnidaria, Ctenophora, and Echinodermata to have increased fitness as a result of being able to respond to their environment. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=379198 | 1,220,557 |
473,483 | The dynamic linker can be influenced into modifying its behavior during either the program's execution or the program's linking, and the examples of this can be seen in the run-time linker manual pages for various Unix-like systems. A typical modification of this behavior is the use of codice_13 and codice_14 environment variables, which adjust the runtime linking process by searching for shared libraries at alternate locations and by forcibly loading and linking libraries that would otherwise not be, respectively. An example is zlibc, also known as codice_15, which facilitates transparent decompression when used through the codice_14 hack; consequently, it is possible to read pre-compressed (gzipped) file data on BSD and Linux systems as if the files were not compressed, essentially allowing a user to add transparent compression to the underlying filesystem, although with some caveats. The mechanism is flexible, allowing trivial adaptation of the same code to perform additional or alternate processing of data during the file read, prior to the provision of said data to the user process that has requested it. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3600079 | 473,247 |
1,719,729 | Cherenkov energy threshold (minimal total energy of a charged particle to produce Cherenkov light) is proportional to the particle mass, and in water it equals 0.8 MeV for electrons, 160 MeV for muons and 1400 MeV for protons. Thus, protons released in neutrino interactions often fall below the threshold and remain undetected. Neutron, as a neutral particle, does not produce Cherenkov light. However, it can be absorbed by another nucleus, which goes into an excited state and during deexcitation produced gamma rays. High energy photons (for gadolinium their total energy is about 8 MeV) scatter electrons from an atom and/or produce electron-positron pairs, which then produce Cherenkov light. Gadolinium is a naturally occurring element with the highest cross-section on the capture of neutrons at thermal energy. For 25 meV neutrons, the cross-section for gadolinium is about 10 times higher than for hydrogen. The fraction of neutrons that will be captured in SK is 50% for 0.01% Gd concentration and 90% for 0.1% concentration – the planned final Gd concentration in SK. The signal from neutron capture is delayed by a fraction of a millisecond (the time the neutron travels across the water before the capture plus the time when Gd remains in the excited state) with respect to the charged lepton signal and usually appears within a distance of 50 cm (the distance travelled by the neutron before the capture) from the neutrino interaction point. Such a double flash event (the first flash from the charged lepton, the second flash from the Gd deexcitation photons) is a signature of an antineutrino interaction. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5736419 | 1,718,759 |
2,227,838 | Stylidium semipartitum is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the genus "Stylidium" (family Stylidiaceae). It is an herbaceous annual or perennial that grows from 9 to 40 cm tall. Oblanceolate, elliptical, or obovate leaves, about 10-30 per plant, form a terminal rosette with stems present and glandular-hairy. The glandular-hairy leaves are generally 11–68 mm long and 3–21 mm wide. This species produces 1-18 scapes per plant. Inflorescences are 8–30 cm long and produce pink, mauve, or red flowers that bloom from March to August in their native range. "S. semipartitum" is endemic to the Kimberley region of Western Australia and northern parts of the Northern Territory. Its typical habitat has been reported as either damp sandy soils in eucalypt woodlands, near creeks in the company of "Melaleuca" species or on sandstone plateaux with "Triodia" species. "S. semipartitum" is distinct within section "Debilia" because it possesses glandular-hairy leaves. Other than that distinctive feature, however, it resembles descriptions of "S. leptorrhizum", which is why George Bentham reduced "S. semipartitum" to a synonym of "S. leptorrhizum". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13375906 | 2,226,574 |
1,177,218 | It seems that the results of immune priming research are showing that the mechanism differs and is dependent on the kind of insect species and microbe used for given experiment. That could be due to host-pathogen coevolution. For every species is convenient to develop a specialised defense against a pathogen (e.g. bacterial strain) that it encounters the most. In arthropod model, the red flour beetle "Tribolium castaneum", it has been shown that the route of infection (cuticular, septic or oral) is important for the defence mechanism generation. Innate immunity in insect is based on non-cellular mechanisms, including production of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), reactive oxygen species (ROS) or activation of prophenol oxidase cascade. Cellular part of insect innate immunity are hemocytes, which can eliminate pathogens by nodulation, encapsulation or phagocytosis. The innate response during immune priming differs based on the experimental setup, but generally it involves enhancement of humoral innate immune mechanisms and increased levels of hemocytes. There are two hypothetical scenarios of immune induction, on which immune priming mechanism could be based. The first mechanism is inducement of long-lasting defences, like circulating immune molecules, by the priming antigens in the host body, which remain until the secondary encounter. Second mechanism describes a drop after the initial priming response, but stronger defence upon secondary challenge. The most probable scenario is the combination of these two mechanisms. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17807140 | 1,176,595 |
1,245,198 | Rio Tinto Rössing Uranium is one of the largest employers in Namibia's Erongo Region. About 800 people were employed at the mine in 2005, of whom 96% are Namibians. Of these, 160 worked in the open pit, 186 in the processing plant, 267 engineering and 200 administrative personnel. Total employment increased to 1,528 in 2012, with an additional 780 jobs provided through subcontractors. For 2013, 276 staff are to be laid off. Most of the workers live in the mining settlement of Arandis or in nearby Swakopmund. Critics have argued that the mine has a history of racial discrimination against its black employees (a common feature of apartheid-era companies), including harsh disciplinary measures, abominable housing conditions at Arandis, and low wages. Even with substantial improvements in the '90s after Namibia's independence, blacks and their unions still claim being disadvantaged. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4637958 | 1,244,524 |
1,795,165 | Dominant microseism signals from the oceans are linked to characteristic ocean swell periods, and thus occur between approximately 4 to 30 seconds. Microseismic noise usually displays two predominant peaks. The weaker is for the larger periods, typically close to 16 s, and can be explained by the effect of surface gravity waves in shallow water. These microseisms have the same period as the water waves that generate them, and are usually called 'primary microseisms'. The stronger peak, for shorter periods, is also due to surface gravity waves in water, but arises from the interaction of waves with nearly equal frequencies but nearly opposite directions (the clapotis). These tremors have a period which is half of the water wave period and are usually called 'secondary microseisms'. A slight, but detectable, incessant excitation of the Earth's free oscillations, or normal modes, with periods in the range 30 to 1000 s, and is often referred to as the "Earth hum". For periods up to 300 s, the vertical displacement corresponds to Rayleigh waves generated like the primary microseisms, with the difference that it involves the interaction of infragravity waves with the ocean bottom topography. The dominant sources of this vertical hum component are likely located along the shelf break, the transition region between continental shelves and the abyssal plains. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19023136 | 1,794,156 |
46,658 | In March 2016, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon announced they would offer a missile to meet the U.S. Army's Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) requirement to replace the ATACMS. The missile will use advanced propulsion to fly faster and farther (originally out to ) while also being thinner and sleeker, increasing loadout to two per pod, doubling the number that can be carried by M270 MLRS and M142 HIMARS launchers. Lockheed and Raytheon were to test-fire their submissions for the renamed Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) program in 2019, with the selected weapon planned to achieve Initial Operational Capability in 2023; the initial PrSM will only be able to hit stationary targets on land, but later versions will track moving targets on land and sea. With the United States withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in August 2019, it was announced the range of the PrSM would be increased beyond the '499 km' limitation previously placed upon it by the treaty. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=147015 | 46,640 |
1,801,680 | "In January 1944, Eglin became an important contributor to 'Operation Crossbow,' which called for the destruction of German missile launching facilities. Thousands worked around the clock for 12 days to construct a duplicate German V-1 facility. Subsequent bombing runs against this copycat facility taught Army Air Forces tacticians which attack angles and weapons would prove most effective against the German launchers." The site was created using hundreds of aerial photos of V-1 facilities that Gen. Carl A. Spaatz, commander of Allied air forces in England, and Lt. Gen. Doolittle, commander of the Eighth Air Force, had called for "a technical and tactical inquiry into the means, methods, and effectiveness of attacks." Gen. Arnold witnessed a test on 15 February. "Medium- and high-level bombing missions conducted on simulated V-1 targets proved conclusively that V-1 targets were indeed hard to hit. Fragmentation bombs seemed to be the most effective." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33714574 | 1,800,671 |
916,641 | Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske was at the vanguard of new technology in naval guns and gunnery, thanks to his innovations in fire control 1890–1910. He immediately grasped the potential for air power, and called for the development of a torpedo plane. Fiske, as aide for operations in 1913–15 to Assistant Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt, proposed a radical reorganization of the Navy to make it a war-fighting instrument. Fiske wanted to centralize authority in a chief of naval operations and an expert staff that would develop new strategies, oversee the construction of a larger fleet, coordinate war planning including force structure, mobilization plans, and industrial base, and ensure that the US Navy possessed the best possible war machines. Eventually, the Navy adopted his reforms and by 1915 started to reorganize for possible involvement in the World War then underway. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=161323 | 916,158 |
1,272,967 | The recommendations address practices by which internal governing structures operate and how they can improve institutional governance for the Commonwealth of Australia. External relations, the role of faculty and students in governance are not approached except inasmuch as institutional board members should be appointed with their selection based on contributions “to the effective working of the governing body by having needed skills, knowledge and experience, an appreciation of the values of a university and its core activities of teaching and research, its independence and academic freedom and the capacity to appreciate the university’s external community needs from that university”. The committee defines the responsibilities of university governance, including legal obligations and legislative requirements for the internal governing boards of Australian institutions. Accordingly, governing bodies “should make available a programme of induction and professional development . . . to ensure that all members are aware of the nature of their duties and responsibilities”. The report concludes with protocol for annual reports, including report of risk management and additional steps to ensure good governance. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9177274 | 1,272,276 |
393,294 | Any combination of these three primary hybrid advantages may be used in different vehicles to realize different fuel usage, power, emissions, weight and cost profiles. The ICE in an HEV can be smaller, lighter, and more efficient than the one in a conventional vehicle, because the combustion engine can be sized for slightly above "average" power demand rather than "peak" power demand. The drive system in a vehicle is required to operate over a range of speed and power, but an ICE's highest efficiency is in a narrow range of operation, making conventional vehicles inefficient. On the contrary, in most HEV designs, the ICE operates closer to its range of highest efficiency more frequently. The power curve of electric motors is better suited to variable speeds and can provide substantially greater torque at low speeds compared with internal-combustion engines. The greater fuel economy of HEVs has implication for reduced petroleum consumption and vehicle air pollution emissions worldwide | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8166749 | 393,099 |
822,668 | By 1949, Weyl was thoroughly disillusioned with the ultimate value of intuitionism, and wrote: "Mathematics with Brouwer gains its highest intuitive clarity. He succeeds in developing the beginnings of analysis in a natural manner, all the time preserving the contact with intuition much more closely than had been done before. It cannot be denied, however, that in advancing to higher and more general theories the inapplicability of the simple laws of classical logic eventually results in an almost unbearable awkwardness. And the mathematician watches with pain the greater part of his towering edifice which he believed to be built of concrete blocks dissolve into mist before his eyes." As John L Bell puts it: "It seems to me a great pity that Weyl did not live to see the emergence in the 1970s of smooth infinitesimal analysis, a mathematical framework within which his vision of a true continuum, not “synthesized” from discrete elements, is realized. Although the underlying logic of smooth infinitesimal analysis is intuitionistic — the law of excluded middle not being generally affirmable — mathematics developed within avoids the “unbearable awkwardness” to which Weyl refers above." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=187544 | 822,227 |
1,494,898 | Examples of operations in domestic waters include surveys from 29 October 2001 to 28 January 2002 of the area of King's Bay, Georgia and St. Marys River approaches. Unclassified extracts of the classified surveys done for the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay were provided to NOAA which surveyed to fill gaps. The ship was also involved in test and evaluation of new systems. An example is work involving the Deep Ocean Logging Platform with Hydrographic Instrumentation and Navigation (DOLPHIN), a diesel powered semi-submersible for surveying. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) was tasked to evaluate the vehicle in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Naval Oceanographic Office and the Canadian Hydrographic Service. "Littlehales", NOAAS "Whiting" (S 329) and DOLPHIN surveyed parts of the Norfolk Canyon off Cape Charles, Virginia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=11120972 | 1,494,057 |
577,159 | As an example, formula_9 and formula_24 may vary considerably with input level, due to nonlinear changes in formula_4. A typical 110-mm diameter full-range driver with an formula_9 of 95 Hz at 0.5 V signal level, might drop to 64 Hz when fed a 5 V input. A driver with a measured formula_24 of 7 L at 0.5 V, may show a formula_24 increase to 13 L when tested at 4 V. formula_16 is typically stable within a few percent, regardless of drive level. formula_11 and formula_20 decrease <13% as the drive level rises from 0.5 V to 4 V, due to the changes in formula_8. Because formula_24 can rise significantly and formula_9 can drop considerably, with a trivial change in measured formula_2, the calculated sensitivity value (formula_47) can appear to drop by >30% as the level changes from 0.5 V to 4 V. Of course, the driver's actual sensitivity has not changed at all, but the calculated sensitivity is correct only under some specific conditions. From this example, it is seen that the measurements to be preferred while designing an enclosure or system are those likely to represent typical operating conditions. Unfortunately, this level must be arbitrary, since the operating conditions are continually changing when reproducing music. Level-dependent nonlinearities typically cause lower than predicted output, or small variations in frequency response. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1311933 | 576,863 |
138,962 | The solar survey vessel "Endeavour" is sent to study Rama, as it is the only ship close enough to do so in the brief period Rama will spend in the Solar System. "Endeavour" manages to rendezvous with Rama one month after it first comes to Earth's attention, when the alien ship is already inside Venus's orbit. The crew, led by Commander Bill Norton, enters Rama through a safety system consisting of triple airlocks, and explores the 16-km wide by 50-km long cylindrical world of its interior, but the nature and purpose of the starship and its creators remain enigmatic throughout the book. Rama's inner surfaces hold "cities" of geometric structures that resemble buildings and are separated by streets with shallow trenches. A band of water, dubbed the Cylindrical Sea, stretches around Rama's central circumference. Massive spires, which are theorised to be part of Rama's propulsion system, stand at its "southern" end. They also find that Rama's atmosphere is breathable. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26476 | 138,906 |
2,212,302 | The Gene Center participates in two primary collaboratory networks: Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) and the RCMI Translational Research Network. The CTSC comprises New York City's Weill Cornell Medical College, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Hospital for Special Surgery, and the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing. The CTSC builds collaborations between the partner institutions and community organizations to accelerate research from the laboratory into patient care, and to improve health outcomes in the community. The partnership was launched in September 2007 with a $49 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The RTRN is a coalition of 18 RCMI Programs across the United States. This network integrates clinical, biomedical, and behavioral researchers with health care providers and community leaders into geographically and ethnically diverse research partnerships aimed at improving patient outcomes in areas identified as national public health priorities. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29282125 | 2,211,042 |
703,042 | The grubs will grow to about and are white with a brownish-black head and brown spiracles along the sides of the body. The larvae will molt twice before winter. The fully grown larva color is glassy yellowish white shading toward green or blue at the head and tail. The larva has stiff ambulatory bristles on its abdomen which assist movement. The larva normally travels on its back. The underground speed is considered more rapid than any other known genus of Scarabaeidae in the United States and is comparable to that of the hairy caterpillar. The larvae feed largely on humus and mold but can do considerable damage to plant root systems. Injury has been reported to vegetables and ornamental plants, particularly those which have been mulched. The larvae are considered pests when they cause damage to lawns or turf grasses. The insect is considered more injurious in its larval stages than as a beetle. Pupation occurs after the third larval stage, which lasts nearly nine months. The pupal stage occurs in an oval cocoon constructed of dirt particles fastened together by a viscid fluid excreted by the larva. The pupa is white when first formed but develops greenish tints just before emergence. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8127472 | 702,674 |
1,259,724 | Facilitation may act by reducing the negative impacts of a stressful environment. As described above, nurse plants facilitate seed germination and survival by alleviating stressful environmental conditions. A similar interaction occurs between the red alga "Chondrus crispus" and the canopy-forming seaweed "Fucus" in intertidal sites of southern New England, USA. The alga survives higher in the intertidal zone—where temperature and desiccation stresses are greater—only when the seaweed is present because the canopy of the seaweed offers protection from those stresses. The previous examples describe facilitation of individuals or of single species, but there are also instances of a single facilitator species mediating some community-wide stress, such as disturbance. An example of such “whole-community” facilitation is substrate stabilization of cobble beach plant communities in Rhode Island, USA, by smooth cordgrass ("Spartina alterniflora"). Large beds of cordgrass buffer wave action, thus allowing the establishment and persistence of a community of less disturbance-tolerant annual and perennial plants below the high-water mark. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4329538 | 1,259,037 |
95,626 | Production of components would be split between Breguet and BAC, and the aircraft themselves would be assembled on two production lines; one in the UK and one in France, To avoid any duplication of work, each aircraft component had only one source. The British light strike/tactical support versions were the most demanding design, requiring supersonic performance, superior avionics, a cutting edge nav/attack system of more accuracy and complexity than the French version, moving map display, laser range-finder and marked-target seeker (LRMTS). As a result, the initial Br.121 design needed a thinner wing, redesigned fuselage, a higher rear cockpit, and after-burning engines. While putting on smiling faces for the public, maintaining the illusion of a shared design, the British design departed from the French sub-sonic Breguet 121 to such a degree that it was effectively a new design. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=176232 | 95,585 |
1,035,393 | Schekman was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Alfred Schekman, an electrical engineer and computer software designer and Esther (Bader) Schekman. His family were Jewish emigrants from Russia and Bessarabia. In the late 1950s his family moved to the new suburban community of Rossmoor, located in Orange County next to Long Beach. He graduated from Western High School in Anaheim, California, in 1966. He received a BA in Molecular Biology from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), in 1971. He spent his third year at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, as an exchange student. He received a PhD in 1975 from Stanford University for research on DNA replication working with Arthur Kornberg. After joining the faculty at University of California, Berkeley, he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1981 and Professor in 1984. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1568950 | 1,034,853 |
864,953 | Over the course of development, Gearbox acquired various outside talent to assist in designing some aspects. In June 1999, Gearbox announced that level designer Richard Gray would be assisting in developing the multiplayer aspects. Several other designers subsequently joined the project in September 1999, with collective experience from the development of "Daikatana", "Quake II", "Doom" and "Shadow Warrior". In the subsequent two months, media releases displaying a variety of screenshots were unveiled. The game was released on November 19, 1999. Gearbox later released a multiplayer update in May 2000, adding a capture the flag mode, along with various items to accompany the new mode. "Opposing Force" was later released on Valve's Steam content delivery system. "Opposing Force" was published as part of Sierra's "Half-Life: Generation" compilation in 2002, and as part of Valve and Electronic Arts' "Half Life 1: Anthology" on September 26, 2005. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=488916 | 864,493 |
1,010,439 | These popular presentation tools have their distinctive features and advantages over one another and can be summarized into three broad types. The first type has almost everything a presenter needs, ranging from tables, charts, picture tools, animations, video tools, add in functions and so forth. Such tools can replace many authoring tools as more complicated functions such as creating simulations, drag and drop etc. are all made possible. Hence, the presentation can be made highly interactive, engaging and compatible with most devices. The best examples are Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple Keynote. However, one drawback is that such tools often come at a subscription charge and need to be installed locally on devices. Both PowerPoint and Keynote point more towards the standard form of slide by slide presentations. Prezi represents the second major type of tools with a storytelling style and less traditional or structured form of presentation that allows one to zoom in and out of any part of the screen. These tools are generally web-based and have collaborative functions of value-add for the PBL process. Nevertheless, this type of tools also charge subscription fees based on privilege levels. The third broad type of tools would be the web-based ones free of charge with less fanciful effects, allowing access to presentations collaboratively online anytime. Google Slides is such an option which is easy to use. Though it has less functions, it offers the convenience of being available anytime anywhere on any online device. This type can be effective when students have limited time to prepare for their presentations as it removes many technical difficulties such as arranging for face-to-face meetings, installing the presentation tool or the time needed to learn to create the presentation. Students can spend more time on meaningful discussions about their problem and solution instead of the presentation itself. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=362386 | 1,009,918 |
383,816 | The earliest surviving chemical formula of gunpowder dates to 1044 in the form of the military manual "Wujing Zongyao", also known in English as the "Complete Essentials for the Military Classics", which contains a collection of factoids on Chinese weaponry. However the 1044 edition has since been lost and the only currently extant copy is dated to 1510 during the Ming dynasty. The "Wujing Zongyao" served as a repository of antiquated or fanciful weaponry, and this applied to gunpowder as well, suggesting that it had already been weaponized long before the invention of what would today be considered conventional firearms. These types of gunpowder weapons styles an assortment of odd names such as "flying incendiary club for subjugating demons", "caltrop fire ball", "ten-thousand fire flying sand magic bomb", "big bees nest", "burning heaven fierce fire unstoppable bomb", "fire bricks" which released "flying swallows", "flying rats", "fire birds", and "fire oxen". Eventually they gave way and coalesced into a smaller number of dominant weapon types, notably gunpowder arrows, bombs, and guns. This was most likely because some weapons were deemed too onerous or ineffective to deploy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12063194 | 383,621 |
1,854,481 | Fungal resistance to herbivores represents an environmentally sustainable alternative to pesticides that has experienced reasonable success in agricultural applications. The organic farming industry has embraced mycorrhizal symbionts as one tool for improving yields and protecting plants from damage. Infected crops of soybean, ribwort plantain, cabbage, banana, coffee bean plant and tomato all show markedly lower rates of herbivore damage compared to uninfected plants. Endophytic fungi show great promise as a means of indirect biocontrol in large-scale agricultural applications. The potential for biotechnology to improve crop populations through inoculation with modified fungal strains could reduce toxicity to livestock and improve yields of human-consumed foods. The endophyte, either with detrimental genes removed or beneficial new genes added, is used as a surrogate host to transform the crops genetically. An endophyte of ryegrass has been genetically transformed in this way and used successfully to deter herbivores. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31533830 | 1,853,415 |
1,941,587 | The origin of polyandry in nature and its adaptive value is a subject of ongoing controversy in evolutionary biology, partly due to the seemingly numerous costs it places on females - additional energetic and temporal allocation to reproduction, increased risk of predation, increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases and increased risk of physical harm caused by copulation/sexual coercion – for eusocial insects, the effects polyandry has on the colony member's coefficient of relatedness is also important, as reducing the relatedness of workers limits the power of kin selection to maintain the ultracooperative behaviours which are vital to a colonies' success. One hypothesis for the evolution of polyandry draws on the disease resistance that increased genetic diversity supposedly brings for a group, and a growing body of evidence from insect taxa supports this hypothesis, some of it discussed above. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51046084 | 1,940,476 |
101,795 | In September 1955, the question of building a commercial nuclear power station was raised in Parliament. Shortly after the world's first commercial nuclear power plant came online at Obninsk in the Soviet Union, the Soviets invited a number of Indian experts to visit it; the United States concurrently offered training in atomic energy to Indian technical and scientific personnel. In August 1957, members of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce in Ahmedabad (then in Bombay State) requested an atomic power station for their city, by which time the Indian government was actively considering the construction of at least "one or more large Atomic Power Stations to generate electricity." By November 1958, the Atomic Energy Commission had recommended construction of two nuclear power stations, each consisting of two units and able to generate 500 MW of power, for a total generating capacity of 1000 MW; the government decided that a minimum of 250 MW of electricity generated from nuclear reactors would be incorporated into the Third Five Year Plan (1961-1966). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12902516 | 101,750 |
1,962,086 | PCS is predominantly concerned with studying the active body. The aim of such a focus is to problematise the taken-for-granted aspects of human movement and embodiment in such a way that makes social divisions (class, gender, ethnicity, ability, generation, sex, nation, race), and the processes that produce, reproduce and contest these divisions become visible and changeable. In this respect, we can see that the 'physical' is of central importance to PCS. Indeed, it is this empirical focus ( and subsequent breadth) that separates PCS from fields such as the sociology of sport. This is because PCS scholars take as their subjects of study - all the many and varied, more or less 'legitimate', popular and emerging, work or leisure related - forms of physical culture. areas of study include: exercise, health, dance, recreation, leisure, fitness, daily living, and work related activities. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36713338 | 1,960,958 |
1,223,206 | In 1949, Dr. Wright joined her father at the Cancer Research Foundation at Harlem Hospital. During her time at the research institute, she and her father sparked an interest in chemotherapeutic agents. They were interested in making chemotherapy more accessible for everyone. In the 1940s chemotherapy was a new development, so it was not a well-known or well-practiced source for treatment because it was still in its experimental stage of drug development. Chemotherapy was considered the “last resort” and the drugs available and dosage was not very well defined. Both Jane and her father wanted to make chemotherapy a more accessible method of cancer treatment. They were the first groups to report the use of nitrogen mustard agents and folic acid antagonists as cancer treatments. The Folic acid antagonist can block folic acid in the body, which is required for cells to produce certain types of amino acids. By inhibiting the folic acids, cells are unable to make new strands of DNA/RNA or produce proteins to drive mitosis. Because cancer cells are highly proliferative compared to the other class in the human body, it is crucial to stop mitosis from happening. The folic acid antagonists that were tested were probably the most important discovery because the antifolates are highly potent against a vast array of solid tumors, including several types of leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, lymphosarcoma, melanoma, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. Methotrexate is still one of the main chemotherapy drugs used today to treat many types of cancer, and it has been a basis for all modern chemotherapy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15862301 | 1,222,546 |
1,989,990 | The IMPRINT tool grew out of common U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Army manpower, personnel, and training (MPT) concerns identified in the mid-1970s: How to estimate MPT constraints and requirements early in system acquisition and how to enter those considerations into the design and decision-making process. The U.S. Navy first developed the HARDMAN (HARDware vs. MANpower) Comparability Methodology (HCM). The Army then tailored the manual HCM, which became known as HARDMAN I, for application to a broad range of weapon systems and later developed an automated version, HARDMAN II. In HARDMAN I and II, however, there was no direct link between MPT and performance. To directly remedy this shortcoming, the U.S. Army began the development of a set of software analysis modules in the mid-80's. This set of modules was called HARDMAN III, and although the name was the same, it used a fundamentally different approach for addressing MPT concerns than previous methods: It provided an explicit link between MPT variables and soldier-system performance | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51636312 | 1,988,848 |
1,394,552 | A storm will be named when it is deemed able to have a "substantial" impact on the UK or Ireland. They will be taken from the list, in alphabetical order, alternating between male and female names – the same naming convention that is used by the United States for tropical cyclones. In the case of storms resulting from ex-tropical storms and hurricanes, the original name allocated by the US National Hurricane Center will be used, an example of which during this season being Ophelia. Met Éireann name any storm which triggers a status Orange or Red weather warning for wind. The basis for such, as outlined on their weather warning service, are mean wind speeds in excess of or gusts over . Similarly, the Met Office name storms that have the potential to cause medium (Amber) or high (Red) impacts to the UK. It describes the wind strength relative to observations such as "falling trees or tiles, other items like garden furniture being blown around and even a number of properties left without electrical power." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55159883 | 1,393,781 |
1,755,078 | The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established a "Clean Car Incentive Program" that funded innovative designs from the auto industry and inventors. Wouk's idea to create a hybrid car was approved in 1971, and the EPA was "to consider a nationwide test of vehicles based on his design if satisfied with the prototype." Wouk and friends invested about $300,000, and successfully converted a 1972 Buick Skylark sedan. This was the first full-sized hybrid vehicle featuring a 20-kilowatt direct-current electric motor and an RX-2 Mazda rotary engine. This vehicle was tested at EPA's emissions-testing laboratories in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where it obtained more than twice the fuel economy of the vehicle before it was converted. Furthermore, the vehicle's emission rates were only about nine percent of those of a gasoline-powered car from that era. In 1974, the EPA awarded $33,000 to Wouk and Dr. Charles L. Rosen and began its own analysis of the car, but the agency did not make additional cars for the planned nationwide tests. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5422921 | 1,754,088 |
1,816,439 | Linear regression is the problem of inferring a linear functional relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables, from data sets where that relation has been obscured by noise. Ordinary least squares assumes that the data all lie near the fit line or plane, but depart from it by the addition of normally distributed residual values. In contrast, robust regression methods work even when some of the data points are outliers that bear no relation to the fit line or plane, possibly because the data draws from a mixture of sources or possibly because an adversarial agent is trying to corrupt the data to cause the regression method to produce an inaccurate result. A typical application, discussed in the book, involves the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram of star types, in which one wishes to fit a curve through the main sequence of stars without the fit being thrown off by the outlying giant stars and white dwarfs. The "breakdown point" of a robust regression method is the fraction of outlying data that it can tolerate while remaining accurate. For this style of analysis, higher breakdown points are better. The breakdown point for ordinary least squares is near zero (a single outlier can make the fit become arbitrarily far from the remaining uncorrupted data) while some other methods have breakdown points as high as 50%. Although these methods require few assumptions about the data, and work well for data whose noise is not well understood, they may have somewhat lower efficiency than ordinary least squares (requiring more data for a given accuracy of fit) and their implementation may be complex and slow. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64209164 | 1,815,405 |
1,739,313 | The hypercycle is a cycle of connected, self-replicating macromolecules. In the hypercycle, all molecules are linked such that each of them catalyses the creation of its successor, with the last molecule catalysing the first one. In such a manner, the cycle reinforces itself. Furthermore, each molecule is additionally a subject for self-replication. The resultant system is a new level of self-organization that incorporates both cooperation and selfishness. The coexistence of many genetically non-identical molecules makes it possible to maintain a high genetic diversity of the population. This can be a solution to the error threshold problem, which states that, in a system without ideal replication, an excess of mutation events would destroy the ability to carry information and prevent the creation of larger and fitter macromolecules. Moreover, it has been shown that hypercycles could originate naturally and that incorporating new molecules can extend them. Hypercycles are also subject to evolution and, as such, can undergo a selection process. As a result, not only does the system gain information, but its information content can be improved. From an evolutionary point of view, the hypercycle is an intermediate state of self-organization, but not the final solution. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29491519 | 1,738,336 |
1,236,179 | One popular configuration for the mixing tube is a large bore tube with a series of internal baffles which create turbulence in the mixture after the injection point, which causes fairly rapid mixing to a homogeneous mixture, which may then be continuously analysed by a monitoring instrument before further processing, or may be directly processed and analysed later from the storage cylinder. Continuous analysis allows adjustment of flow rate of the added gases to correct the mixture if it deviates from the specification. Post-analysis makes correction more difficult. Addition of components may be done in sequence or together. Adding them together means that mixing is done once, and this reduces the pressure loss in the intake system. It is important that the gases are thoroughly mixed before analysis as the analysis will then be more reliable. It is also highly desirable to ensure that the intake gases do not vary significantly in oxygen content over time for safety reasons, as the compressor will probably only be safe for a limited oxygen fraction. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=996061 | 1,235,515 |
234,157 | The design team had set the goal that the G-58 should weigh fully loaded. As development continued it became clear this was impossible to achieve as the structure of the new fighter had to be made strong enough for aircraft carrier landings. Ultimately much of the weight-saving measures included restricting the internal fuel capacity to (later ) and limiting the fixed armament to four .50 cal Browning M2/AN machine guns, two in each wing. The limited range due to the reduced fuel load would mean it would be useful in the interception role, but meant that the Hellcat would still be needed for longer range patrols. A later role was defending the fleet against airborne "kamikaze" attacks. Compared to the Hellcat, the Bearcat was 20% lighter, had a 30% better rate of climb and was faster. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=550705 | 234,038 |
2,006,592 | Recently, in order to provide more comprehension tools of GTN pathogenesis, epigenetic modifications and molecular biology techniques could be applied for proper diagnosis, management, and treatment of such neoplasia. The progression of anti-angiogenesis therapy and molecular targeted cancer therapies would be capable of improving the therapeutic perspective among patients with drug resistance. Although chemotherapy and hysterectomy are currently used in a clinical setting, the use of diverse treatments including anti-body and gene therapy also being attempted to cure GTN. In addition, gene delivery tools using genetically engineered neural stem cells are presently being examined for the treatment of GTN and previous studies have indicated a significant inhibitory effect on tumor growth. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3137506 | 2,005,443 |
677,190 | The Mark III was a naval version used as an anti-aircraft weapon, mostly by the Royal Navy and allied navies in the Second World War, typically in mountings of 4 guns. It proved insufficiently powerful at short-range against modern all-metal aircraft and was superseded during the Second World War by the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. The naval quad mount featured a 200-round magazine per barrel, which wrapped the ammunition belt around the magazine drum and provided a maximum rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute, per gun. The four-barrel mounting had its guns adjusted to provide a spread of fire, amounting to wide and high at . Vickers claimed that it could fire all 800 rounds in 20 seconds and could then be reloaded in a further 30 seconds. During the Second World War it was also mounted on power-operated turrets (usually a twin-gun mount) in smaller craft such as motor gunboats and motor torpedo boats. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10360909 | 676,837 |
791,596 | Bacteria were at first classified based solely on their shape (vibrio, bacillus, coccus etc.), presence of endospores, gram stain, aerobic conditions and motility. This system changed with the study of metabolic phenotypes, where metabolic characteristics were used. Recently, with the advent of molecular phylogeny, several genes are used to identify species, the most important of which is the 16S rRNA gene, followed by 23S, ITS region, gyrB and others to confirm a better resolution. The quickest way to identify to match an isolated strain to a species or genus today is done by amplifying its 16S gene with universal primers and sequence the 1.4kb amplicon and submit it to a specialised web-based identification database, namely either Ribosomal Database Project, which align the sequence to other 16S sequences using infernal, a secondary structure bases global alignment, or ARB SILVA, which aligns sequences via SINA (SILVA incremental aligner), which does a local alignment of a seed and extends it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31385296 | 791,171 |
932,435 | The opportunistic pathogen "Pseudomonas aeruginosa" uses quorum sensing to coordinate the formation of biofilm, swarming motility, exopolysaccharide production, virulence, and cell aggregation. These bacteria can grow within a host without harming it until they reach a threshold concentration. Then they become aggressive, developing to the point at which their numbers are sufficient to overcome the host's immune system, and form a biofilm, leading to disease within the host as the biofilm is a protective layer encasing the bacterial population. Another form of gene regulation that allows the bacteria to rapidly adapt to surrounding changes is through environmental signaling. Recent studies have discovered that anaerobiosis can significantly impact the major regulatory circuit of quorum sensing. This important link between quorum sensing and anaerobiosis has a significant impact on the production of virulence factors of this organism. There is hope among some humans that the therapeutic enzymatic degradation of the signaling molecules will be possible when treating illness caused by biofilms, and prevent the formation of such biofilms and possibly weaken established biofilms. Disrupting the signaling process in this way is called "quorum sensing inhibition". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=161995 | 931,943 |
520,319 | Computational models for simulating combustion and heat release rates of HCCI engines require detailed chemistry models. This is largely because ignition is more sensitive to chemical kinetics than to turbulence/spray or spark processes as are typical in SI and diesel engines. Computational models have demonstrated the importance of accounting for the fact that the in-cylinder mixture is actually in-homogeneous, particularly in terms of temperature. This in-homogeneity is driven by turbulent mixing and heat transfer from the combustion chamber walls. The amount of temperature stratification dictates the rate of heat release and thus tendency to knock. This limits the usefulness of considering the in-cylinder mixture as a single zone, resulting in the integration of 3D computational fluid dynamics codes such as Los Alamos National Laboratory's KIVA CFD code and faster solving probability density function modelling codes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2063535 | 520,048 |
756,671 | In the absence of quantum effects or thermal noise, other phenomena that tend to be random, although in ways not easily characterized by laws of physics, can be used. When several such sources are combined carefully (as in, for example, the Yarrow algorithm or Fortuna CSPRNGs), enough entropy can be collected for the creation of cryptographic keys and nonces, though generally at restricted rates. The advantage is that this approach needs, in principle, no special hardware. The disadvantage is that a sufficiently knowledgeable attacker can surreptitiously modify the software or its inputs, thus reducing the randomness of the output, perhaps substantially. The primary source of randomness typically used in such approaches is the precise timing of the interrupts caused by mechanical input/output devices, such as keyboards and disk drives, various system information counters, etc. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=160506 | 756,268 |
1,736,627 | While the ESA developed the PSS system for its projects, the different space agencies in Europe relied on a multiplicity of standards. In 1988, the first call to unify standardization on a European level originated from Eurospace, an association of European companies involved in space activities. Several efforts were subsequently initiated to achieve this objective. In the autumn of 1993, a number of national space agencies (mentioned below), alongside several European industrial organizations represented by Eurospace, signed the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) terms of reference. A work group was established to define the Standardization Policy, approved by the Steering Board under the title ECSS-P-00 by late 1993. This document was publicly released on 4 April 2000, as ECSS-P-00A. On 23 June 1994, the ESA council adopted the resolution ESA/C/CXIII/Res.1, formally initiating the transfer of the PSS system to the new ECSS system. The ECSS secretariat initially aimed to complete the transfer by the end of June 1995. By February 1995, the active entities participating to drafting the ECSS system were: European Space Agency (ESA), Eurospace on behalf of the European space industry, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Belgian Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs (OSTC), British National Space Centre (BNSC), Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), Deutsche Agentur für Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), Norwegian Space Centre (NSC), and Canadian Space Agency (CSA). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12971550 | 1,735,650 |
404,233 | After his accidental discovery, Reinitzer did not pursue studying liquid crystals further. The research was continued by Lehmann, who realized that he had encountered a new phenomenon and was in a position to investigate it: In his postdoctoral years he had acquired expertise in crystallography and microscopy. Lehmann started a systematic study, first of cholesteryl benzoate, and then of related compounds which exhibited the double-melting phenomenon. He was able to make observations in polarized light, and his microscope was equipped with a hot stage (sample holder equipped with a heater) enabling high temperature observations. The intermediate cloudy phase clearly sustained flow, but other features, particularly the signature under a microscope, convinced Lehmann that he was dealing with a solid. By the end of August 1889 he had published his results in the Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17973 | 404,033 |
1,435,261 | MammaPrint is based on the Amsterdam 70-gene breast cancer gene signature and uses formalin-fixed-paraffin-embedded (FFPE) or fresh tissue for microarray analysis. It is a laboratory developed test (LDT) which falls into the class of "In Vitro" Diagnostic Multivariate Index Assays (IVDMIA). MammaPrint was the first (2007) IVDMIA to be cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a "De Novo" Classification Process (Evaluation of Automatic Class III Designation) and is the only molecular diagnostic test with a randomized prospective clinical trial validating clinical utility. The test uses RNA isolated from tumor samples and run on custom glass microarray slides in order to determine the expression of a 70-gene signature. The expression profile is then used in a proprietary algorithm to categorically classify the patient as being at either high or low risk of breast cancer recurrence. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3208464 | 1,434,455 |
806,522 | Infant respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS) is the leading cause of death in premature infants. Despite only 1% of all birth complications being attributed to respiratory distress syndrome, there is a significantly higher prevalence in prematurely born babies. Incidence rates of IRDS in premature infants born at 30 weeks of gestational age (GA) are at 50%, and rise even higher to 93% for infants born prematurely at 28 weeks of gestational age or younger. IRDS is diagnosed within hours of delivery and usually leads to morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. There are many risk factors that can potentially cause IRDS. The most common risks factors that can potentially cause IRDS include male gender, white race, late preterm delivery, maternal diabetes, perinatal hypoxia (exposure to low oxygen) and ischemia (decreased blood flow), and low birth weight. Seventy percent of babies diagnosed with respiratory distress syndrome are born between 29 and 34 weeks of gestational age and are 55% more likely to be male. A study conducted at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network studied premature infants born between 22 and 37 weeks and the outcomes leading to IRDS. This study was conducted from 2002 to 2008. The incidence rate of IRDS for 24 weeks was 98%, for 34 weeks the incidence is 5%, and for 37 weeks the incidence rate was less than 1%. The results demonstrate that the incidence of IRDS increases with decreasing age at birth. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=789862 | 806,093 |
411,009 | Despite recent improvements, there are still difficulties in using density functional theory to properly describe: intermolecular interactions (of critical importance to understanding chemical reactions), especially van der Waals forces (dispersion); charge transfer excitations; transition states, global potential energy surfaces, dopant interactions and some strongly correlated systems; and in calculations of the band gap and ferromagnetism in semiconductors. The incomplete treatment of dispersion can adversely affect the accuracy of DFT (at least when used alone and uncorrected) in the treatment of systems which are dominated by dispersion (e.g. interacting noble gas atoms) or where dispersion competes significantly with other effects (e.g. in biomolecules). The development of new DFT methods designed to overcome this problem, by alterations to the functional or by the inclusion of additive terms, is a current research topic. Classical density functional theory uses a similar formalism to calculate properties of non-uniform classical fluids. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=209874 | 410,807 |
101,492 | To measure the distance to an object, the time from transmission of a pulse to reception is measured and converted into a range using the known speed of sound. To measure the bearing, several hydrophones are used, and the set measures the relative arrival time to each, or with an array of hydrophones, by measuring the relative amplitude in beams formed through a process called beamforming. Use of an array reduces the spatial response so that to provide wide cover multibeam systems are used. The target signal (if present) together with noise is then passed through various forms of signal processing, which for simple sonars may be just energy measurement. It is then presented to some form of decision device that calls the output either the required signal or noise. This decision device may be an operator with headphones or a display, or in more sophisticated sonars this function may be carried out by software. Further processes may be carried out to classify the target and localise it, as well as measuring its velocity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29438 | 101,447 |
2,008,271 | At Cambridge Inglis' students included Sir Frank Whittle (developer of the jet engine), James N. Goodier (mechanical engineer and academic), Sir Morien Morgan (called the "Father of Concorde") and Beryl Platt, Baroness Platt (Conservative peer). He was also in contact with Russian railway engineer Yury Lomonosov and lectured to biochemist Albert Chibnall. Despite mentoring some of the best engineers of their generation Inglis was realistic about the actual intentions of many of his students at the time. He once told a new intake class: "Your fathers, gentlemen, have sent you to Cambridge to be educated, not to become engineers. They think, however, that reading engineering is a very good way of becoming educated. In 10 years' time, however, 90% of you will have become managers, whether of design, manufacturing, sales, research or even accounts departments in industry. The remaining 10% of you will have become successful lawyers, novelists, and things of that sort". Undeterred, Inglis sought to give his students the broadest possible engineering education, covering all fields to prevent them becoming "cramped by premature specialisation". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16975609 | 2,007,119 |
1,711,031 | Cormorants develop breeding pair bonds that last for a duration of a single breeding season but have been shown to sometimes carry over into the following breeding season. Courtship begins in group breeding grounds located on isolated shorelines and in nearby waters with pair chasing and presentation of a nuptial gift of nesting supplies provided by the male indicating the beginning of pair formation. Males begin the courtship process by establishing a nesting site nearby other cormorant nests and performs threat displays to deter other pairs from nesting too close. Upon arrival of the female mate, the cormorant performs a "wing flapping" behaviour in which the male assumes a horizontal stature, erects its tail with spread plumage, head drawn back with its neck touching its dorsal side and raises its beak with inflated gorge to the sky, and will often produce a cackling cry. The cormorant will raise its wings to display plumage and flap wings in rhythmic formation along with bobbing its head side to side and will increase the frequency of this behaviour as the female draws near. The male cormorant has also been shown to perform "gaping behaviour" by thrusting their open bill with inflated pouch forward accompanied by a call, or to display nesting materials that lie underneath the male in order to attract interest of the desired female mate. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30722380 | 1,710,068 |
79,109 | In the versions of the battle given by Hesiod, Aeschylus and Pindar, Zeus' defeat of Typhon is straightforward, however a more involved version of the battle is given by Apollodorus. No early source gives any reason for the conflict, but Apollodorus' account seemingly implies that Typhon had been produced by Gaia to avenge the destruction, by Zeus and the other gods, of the Giants, a previous generation of offspring of Gaia. According to Apollodorus, Typhon, "hurling kindled rocks", attacked the gods, "with hissings and shouts, spouting a great jet of fire from his mouth." Seeing this, the gods transformed into animals and fled to Egypt (as in Pindar and Nicander). However "Zeus pelted Typhon at a distance with thunderbolts, and at close quarters struck him down with an adamantine sickle". Wounded, Typhon fled to the Syrian Mount Kasios, where Zeus "grappled" with him. But Typhon, twining his snaky coils around Zeus, was able to wrest away the sickle and cut the sinews from Zeus' hands and feet. Typhon carried the disabled Zeus across the sea to the Corycian cave in Cilicia where he set the she-serpent Delphyne to guard over Zeus and his severed sinews, which Typhon had hidden in a bearskin. But Hermes and Aegipan (possibly another name for Pan) stole the sinews and gave them back to Zeus. His strength restored, Zeus chased Typhon to mount Nysa, where the Moirai tricked Typhon into eating "ephemeral fruits" which weakened him. Typhon then fled to Thrace, where he threw mountains at Zeus, which were turned back on him by Zeus' thunderbolts, and the mountain where Typhon stood, being drenched with Typhon's blood, became known as Mount Haemus (Bloody Mountain). Typhon then fled to Sicily, where Zeus threw Mount Etna on top of Typhon burying him, and so finally defeated him. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=81768 | 79,076 |
1,900,428 | "Leptospira biflexa" are a species of genus Leptospira consisting of pathogenic and free living saprophytic bacterial species. "L. biflexa" is a free-living saprophytic spirochete that survives exclusively in external environments and was the first saprophytic "Leptospira" genome to be sequenced unveiling a total of 3,590 protein-coding genes distributed across three circular replicons. Due to the fast growth rate and ease of genetic manipulation the use of this model bacterium species allows insight to gene functions within "Leptospira." "L. biflexa" contains a mechanical barrier of lipopolysaccharides within the outer membrane to defend against hydrophilic agents and toxic compounds. A study conducted found that there are 29 genes associated with the mutagenic EtBr sensitivity within "L. biflexa." The sigma-54 was found to control genes involved in nitrogen uptake and metabolism including "amtB1, glnB-amtB2, ntrX and narK" which contribute to the long-term environmental survival of "Leptospira" spp"." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=69337873 | 1,899,340 |
1,446,818 | From 16 September, the AASC officer at each depot reported the stock levels at 18:00 each day. Demands for supplies were forwarded from the Q Branch at New Guinea Force headquarters to the Deputy Director of Supplies and Transport. This was matched up with the number and type of available aircraft. Trucks drew the stores from the depots, where they were packaged and prepared for dropping, and took them to the aerodrome, usually Jackson or Kila. As time went by, standard load lists were developed. Packages of rations were "balanced"–arranged so they contained a complete set of commodities—so that the loss of some packages would not result in surpluses of one commodity and shortages of another. One truck was allocated to each plane, plus one additional truck in case another aircraft became available. Each plane would be loaded with the contents of one truck. Planes might return with some or all of their load, or not take off at all. At the end of the day, stores remaining on aircraft would be loaded back onto the trucks, and would be returned to the depots. Some were despatched by air supply in August, in September, and in October. New drop zones were developed around Efogi, Nauro and Manari. Myola was recaptured on 14 October, and Myola1 and2 were developed as drop zones. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51118476 | 1,446,002 |
296,645 | It has been proposed that amino acid synthesis could have occurred deep in the Earth's crust and that these amino acids were subsequently shot up along with hydrothermal fluids into cooler waters, where lower temperatures and the presence of clay minerals would have fostered the formation of peptides and protocells. This is an attractive hypothesis because of the abundance of CH (methane) and NH (ammonia) present in hydrothermal vent regions, a condition that was not provided by the Earth's primitive atmosphere. A major limitation to this hypothesis is the lack of stability of organic molecules at high temperatures, but some have suggested that life would have originated outside of the zones of highest temperature. There are numerous species of extremophiles and other organisms currently living immediately around deep-sea vents, suggesting that this is indeed a possible scenario. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=354588 | 296,485 |
2,040,360 | A vector inserted to form a molecular processor is described in part. The objective was to promote angiogenesis, blood vessel formation and improve cardiovasculature. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) cDNA was ligated to either side of an internal ribosomal re-entry site (IRES) to produce inline production of both the VEGF and EGFP proteins. After in vitro insertion and quantification of integrating units (IUs), engineered cells produce a bioluminescent marker and a chemotactic growth factor. In this instance, increased fluorescence of EGFP is used to show VEGF production in individual cells with active molecular processors. The production was exponential in nature and regulated through use of an integrating promoter, cell numbers, the number of integrated units (IUs) of molecular processors and or cell numbers. The measure the molecular processors efficacy was performed by FC/FACS to indirectly measure VEGF through fluorescence intensity. Proof of functional molecular processing was quantified by ELISA to show VEGF effect through chemotactic and angiogenesis models. The result involved directed assembly and coordination of endothelial cells for tubule formation by engineered cells on endothelial cells. The research goes on to show implantation and VEGF with dosage capabilities to promote revascularization, validating mechanisms of molecular processor control. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25444252 | 2,039,181 |
1,251,663 | At the latitudes of 32–36° S —that is Central Chile and most of Mendoza Province— the Andean orogeny proper began in the Late Cretaceous when backarc basins were inverted. Immediately east of the early Andes foreland basins developed and their flexural subsidence caused the ingression of waters from the Atlantic all the way to the front of the orogen in the Maastrichtian. The Andes at the latitudes of 32–36° S experienced a sequence of uplift in the Cenozoic that started in the west and spread to the east. Beginning about 20 million years ago in the Miocene the Principal Cordillera (east of Santiago) began an uplift that lasted until about 8 million years ago. From the Eocene to the early Miocene, sediments accumulated in the Abanico Extensional Basin, a north-south elongated basin in Chile that spanned from 29° to 38° S. Tectonic inversion from 21 to 16 million years ago made the basin to collapse and the sediments to be incorporated to the Andean cordillera. Lavas and volcanic material that are now part of Farellones Formation accumulated while the basin was being inverted and uplifted. The Miocene continental divide was about 20 km to the west of the modern water divide that makes up the Argentina–Chile border. Subsequent river incision shifted the divide to the east leaving old flattish surfaces hanging. Compression and uplift in this part of the Andes has continued into the present. The Principal Cordillera had risen to heights that allowed for the development of valley glaciers about 1 million years ago. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27294985 | 1,250,985 |
1,822,955 | Bui is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, and site-specific installation. Since 2012 he has been working on his on-going social sculpture/environment, which attempts to realize "art as social activity" and to reinforce the notion that "the process of art making is the art." In 2006, Bui won the Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Eric Isenbeurger Annual Prize for Installation from the National Academy Museum. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Pierogi, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the North Dakota Museum of Art. Bui has lectured at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Columbia University, Cooper Union, Bard College, and taught at Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, and the School of Visual Arts where he is currently giving graduate seminars in MFA Writing and Criticism and MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media. He has won an Arcadia Traveling Fellowship, a Hohenberg Traveling Fellowship, and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowship, and in 2014 was the keynote speaker of The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, and was the Visionary Honoree at Art in General's Annual Benefit. In 2017, Bui was awarded the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation Prize in Fine Arts Journalism. In 2019, the Lunder Institute named Bui a 2019 Lunder Institute Fellow. In July 2019, Bui received the Jetté Award for Leadership in the Arts 2019 from Colby College as well as curating "Occupy Colby: Artists Need to Create on the Same Scale That Society Has the Capacity to Destroy, Year 2" at Colby Museum of Art. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7873945 | 1,821,917 |
1,048,577 | Electrotyping was also used to produce entire printing plates directly from the formes composed from movable type and illustrations. In this application, electrotyping was a higher quality but more costly alternative to stereotyping, which involved casting of type metal into a mold prepared from the forme. Stereotyping had been invented around 1725, and was already well-established when electrotyping was invented in 1838. Both methods yielded plates that could be preserved in case of future needs, for example in the printing of novels and other books of unpredictable popularity. The movable type used to compose the original forme could then be re-used. Both methods could be used to prepared curved plates for rotary presses, which were used for the longest print runs. The widespread adoption of electrotyping for this use occurred after mechanical electrical generators (dynamos) became commonly available around 1872. These generators supplanted the whole rooms of chemical batteries (Smee cells) that were previously used to provide electricity for electrotyping. Batteries did not have the electrical capacity needed to rapidly deposit the electrotype (or "electro"). The advent of plating dynamos sped up electrotyping twenty times or more, so that an electrotype printing plate could be deposited in less than two hours. In addition, the chemical batteries gave off toxic fumes that had required their isolation in separate rooms. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2920436 | 1,048,032 |
108,900 | The establishment of computer security inaugurated the history of information security. The need for such appeared during World War II. The volume of information shared by the Allied countries during the Second World War necessitated formal alignment of classification systems and procedural controls. An arcane range of markings evolved to indicate who could handle documents (usually officers rather than enlisted troops) and where they should be stored as increasingly complex safes and storage facilities were developed. The Enigma Machine, which was employed by the Germans to encrypt the data of warfare and was successfully decrypted by Alan Turing, can be regarded as a striking example of creating and using secured information. Procedures evolved to ensure documents were destroyed properly, and it was the failure to follow these procedures which led to some of the greatest intelligence coups of the war (e.g., the capture of U-570). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15036 | 108,855 |
1,005,781 | As a political counterbalance to the native-born Macedonian nobility, Philip invited military families from throughout Greece to settle on lands he had conquered or confiscated from his enemies, these 'personal clients' then also served as army officers or in the Companion cavalry. After taking control of the gold-rich mines of Mount Pangaeus, and the city of Amphipolis that dominated the region, he obtained the wealth to support a large army. It was a professional army imbued with a national spirit, an unusual combination for the Greek world of the time. The armies of contemporary Greek states were largely reliant on a combination of citizens and mercenaries. The former were not full-time soldiers, and the latter, though professional, had little or no inherent loyalty to their employers. By the time of his death, Philip's army had pushed the Macedonian frontier into southern Illyria, conquered the Paeonians and Thracians, asserted a hegemony over Thessaly, destroyed the power of Phocis and defeated and humbled Athens and Thebes. All the states of Greece, with the exception of Sparta, Epirus and Crete, had become subservient allies of Macedon (League of Corinth) and Philip was laying the foundations of an invasion of the Persian Empire, an invasion that his son would successfully undertake. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2529634 | 1,005,262 |
443,198 | In December 1999, IBM announced a US$100 million research initiative for a five-year effort to build a massively parallel computer, to be applied to the study of biomolecular phenomena such as protein folding. The project had two main goals: to advance our understanding of the mechanisms behind protein folding via large-scale simulation, and to explore novel ideas in massively parallel machine architecture and software. Major areas of investigation included: how to use this novel platform to effectively meet its scientific goals, how to make such massively parallel machines more usable, and how to achieve performance targets at a reasonable cost, through novel machine architectures. The initial design for Blue Gene was based on an early version of the Cyclops64 architecture, designed by Monty Denneau. The initial research and development work was pursued at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center and led by William R. Pulleyblank. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=136764 | 442,983 |
1,562,690 | TEA promotes the use of thorium using a different rationale. Increasing world population, depleting resources and global warming have put severe constraints on the choices of power generation available today. Traditional fossil fuel based energy generation faces two-fold challenges in terms of depleting resources and need to keep greenhouse gas emissions in control. While interim measures like natural gas and unconventional oil are proposed, these still have a carbon footprint and are not universally available. Hydropower use has reached a natural limit in many parts of the world, and the existing capacity is under stress due to climate change. Renewable energy is seen as an important component of future energy generation, but being essentially intermittent, can not be effectively managed by the current power distribution technologies. Hence, nuclear energy is seen as an important option for power generation in many countries. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38171120 | 1,561,803 |
1,277,886 | Later, he attended the University of Texas at Austin where he studied chemistry and chemical engineering, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1941 and an Master's degree in 1943. While Thomas was an undergraduate he met his wife, Dorothy (Dottie) Martin while she was training to be journalist. They had three children. Thomas entered Harvard Medical School in 1943, receiving an Doctor of Medicine in 1946. Dottie became a lab technician during this time to support the family, and the pair worked closely thereafter. He did his residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital before serving two years in the United States Army as an internist stationed in Germany. "In 1955, he was appointed physician in chief at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, now Bassett Medical Center, in Cooperstown, New York, an affiliate of Columbia University." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1718619 | 1,277,193 |
1,463,456 | Nicotine, a key ingredient in most e-liquids, is well-recognized as one of the most addictive substances, as addictive as heroin and cocaine. Addiction is believed to be a disorder of experience-dependent brain plasticity. The reinforcing effects of nicotine play a significant role in the beginning and continuing use of the drug. First-time nicotine users develop a dependence about 32% of the time. Chronic nicotine use involves both psychological and physical dependence. Nicotine-containing e-cigarette aerosol induces addiction-related neurochemical, physiological and behavioral changes. Nicotine affects neurological, neuromuscular, cardiovascular, respiratory, immunological and gastrointestinal systems. Neuroplasticity within the brain's reward system occurs as a result of long-term nicotine use, leading to nicotine dependence. The neurophysiological activities that are the basis of nicotine dependence are intricate. It includes genetic components, age, gender, and the environment. Pre-existing cognitive and mood disorders may influence the development and maintenance of nicotine dependence. Nicotine addiction is a disorder which alters different neural systems such as dopaminergic, glutamatergic, GABAergic, serotoninergic, that take part in reacting to nicotine. In 2015 the psychological and behavioral effects of e-cigarettes were studied using whole-body exposure to e-cigarette aerosol, followed by a series of biochemical and behavioral studies. The results showed that nicotine-containing e-cigarette aerosol induces addiction-related neurochemical, physiological and behavioral changes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61711836 | 1,462,633 |
538,212 | Tandem Computers was founded in 1974 by James Treybig. Treybig first saw the market need for fault tolerance in OLTP (online transaction processing) systems while running a marketing team for Hewlett Packard 's HP 3000 computer division, but HP was not interested in developing for this niche. He then joined the venture capital firm Kleiner & Perkins and developed the Tandem business plan there. Treybig pulled together a core engineering team hired away from the HP 3000 division: Mike Green, Jim Katzman, Dave Mackie and Jack Loustaunou. Their business plan called for ultra-reliable systems that never had outages and never lost or corrupted data. These were modular in a new way that was safe from all "single-point failures", yet would be only marginally more expensive than conventional non-fault-tolerant systems. They would be less expensive and support more throughput than some existing ad-hoc toughened systems that used redundant but usually required "hot spares". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=201353 | 537,933 |
800,730 | Beyond assembling and processing data, bias can emerge as a result of design. For example, algorithms that determine the allocation of resources or scrutiny (such as determining school placements) may inadvertently discriminate against a category when determining risk based on similar users (as in credit scores). Meanwhile, recommendation engines that work by associating users with similar users, or that make use of inferred marketing traits, might rely on inaccurate associations that reflect broad ethnic, gender, socio-economic, or racial stereotypes. Another example comes from determining criteria for what is included and excluded from results. This criteria could present unanticipated outcomes for search results, such as with flight-recommendation software that omits flights that do not follow the sponsoring airline's flight paths. Algorithms may also display an "uncertainty bias", offering more confident assessments when larger data sets are available. This can skew algorithmic processes toward results that more closely correspond with larger samples, which may disregard data from underrepresented populations. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55817338 | 800,303 |
469,367 | Barrett, et al. 2006 examined 161 studies published between 1990 and 2001. The authors compared the consistency and specificity of prior meta-analytic findings specific to each notional basic emotion. Consistent neural patterns were defined by brain regions showing increased activity for a specific emotion (relative to a neutral control condition), regardless of the method of induction used (for example, visual vs. auditory cue). Specific neural patterns were defined as separate circuits for one emotion vs. the other emotions (for example, the fear circuit must be discriminable from the anger circuit, although both may include common brain regions). In general, the results supported Phan et al. and Murphy et al., but not specificity. Consistency was determined through the comparison of chi-squared analyses that revealed whether the proportion of studies reporting activation during one emotion was significantly higher than the proportion of studies reporting activation during the other emotions. Specificity was determined through the comparison of emotion-category brain-localizations by contrasting activations in key regions that were specific to particular emotions. Increased amygdala activation during fear was the most consistently reported across induction methods (but not specific). Both meta-analyses associated the anterior cingulate cortex with sadness, although this finding was less consistent (across induction methods) and was not specific. Both meta-analyses found that disgust was associated with the basal ganglia, but these findings were neither consistent nor specific. Neither consistent nor specific activity was observed across the meta-analyses for anger or happiness. This meta-analysis introduced the concept of the basic, irreducible elements of emotional life as dimensions such as approach and avoidance. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2640086 | 469,131 |
528,436 | Though approval was given in the Imperial period for Women to audit university lectures from 1859, the Higher Courses were not state funded and required local support, carrying high tuition fees. When petitioned by the university to create courses for women, Dmitry Tolstoy suggested that a curriculum modeled on the Guerrier Courses might be acceptable, though he continuously blocked their implementation in Kazan. In 1876, the imperial government, hoping to secure more qualified teachers, authorized creation of Higher Women's Courses in all cities in the empire which had a university. From October 1876, female applicants who had completed a girls' gymnasium; were certified instructors in arithmetic, history and Russian language; or passed an entrance examination could enroll in evening classes at Kazan University. Those who did not meet those requirements could attend as external auditors, but were excluded from course examinations. Students took six mandatory courses in art history, physics, Russian history and literature, and world history and literature. Optional courses included hygiene, languages, and mathematics. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=640865 | 528,162 |
1,553,131 | This episode covers the nature of how life may have developed on Earth and the possibility of life on other planets. Tyson begins by explaining how the human development of writing systems enabled the transfer of information through generations, describing how Princess Enheduanna ca. 2280 BCE would be one of the first to sign her name to her works, and how Gilgamesh collected stories, including that of Utnapishtim documenting a great flood comparable to the story of Noah's Ark. Tyson explains how DNA similarly records information to propagate life, and postulates theories of how DNA originated on Earth, including evolution from a shallow tide pool, or from the ejecta of meteor collisions from other planets. In the latter case, Tyson explains how comparing the composition of the Nakhla meteorite in 1911 to results collected by the Viking program demonstrated that material from Mars could transit to Earth, and the ability of some microbes to survive the harsh conditions of space. With the motions of solar systems through the galaxy over billions of years, life could conceivably propagate from planet to planet in the same manner. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=42818221 | 1,552,250 |
1,426,902 | Although the library acquired an additional half-floor of space in the mid-1950s, the collection had outgrown its facility by the 1970s. The only available expansion space was a narrow vertical cavity next to the original library. Schwartz/Silver Architects decided to suspend newly added floors from roof girders which support the weight of the books from above, allowing the elimination of floor beams to maximize use of the narrow footprint. Six new floors were fitted into the same height as the four of the original building, while still allowing for a vertical clearance for a truck turnaround below. A narrow, sky-lit atrium between the old building and the new addition allows sunlight to reach offices and studios in the upper floors, mitigating the unavoidable loss of exterior views. The result is an addition that has been referred to as a "glass cage", which contains the book stacks, limited-access collection, and exhibition gallery, while the renovated original Bosworth building holds the main reading room and administrative offices. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12759325 | 1,426,099 |
1,642,172 | STPI provides technical analysis in a broad range of science and technology topics, including innovation, environment and energy, STEM education and workforce, space and aviation, life sciences, and scientometrics. The institute is responsible for compiling, analyzing, and interpreting information on significant science and technology research developments and trends, both in the United States and abroad. In particular, emphasis is placed on how the scope and content of federal science and technology research and development affects national and interagency issues. Other STPI duties include initiating studies and analyses to determine appropriate roles for federal and state governments, higher education institutions, and private industry in the development and application of science and technology; the primary aim is to support the long-term strength of the United States in science and technology research and development. STPI also provides technical support and assistance to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and interagency committees and panels of the federal government concerned with science and technology. STPI is required to submit an annual report to the President regarding progress made towards carrying out the responsibilities of the institute. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=45533344 | 1,641,245 |
904,273 | As is common with tumor cells and other pathogens, the invasive hyphae of A. fumigatus encounters hypoxic (low oxygen levels, ≤ 1%) micro-environments at the site of infection in the host organism. Current research suggests that upon infection, necrosis and inflammation cause tissue damage which decreases available oxygen concentrations due to a local reduction in perfusion, the passaging of fluids to organs. In A. fumigatus specifically, secondary metabolites have been found to inhibit the development of new blood vessels leading to tissue damage, the inhibition of tissue repair, and ultimately localized hypoxic micro-environments. The exact implications of hypoxia on fungal pathogenesis is currently unknown, however these low oxygen environments have long been associated with negative clinical outcomes. Due to the significant correlations identified between hypoxia, fungal infections, and negative clinical outcomes, the mechanisms by which A. fumigatus adapts in hypoxia is a growing area of focus for novel drug targets. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1391326 | 903,797 |
862,343 | In quantum mechanics, each physical system is associated with a Hilbert space, each element of which represents a possible state of the physical system. The approach codified by John von Neumann represents a measurement upon a physical system by a self-adjoint operator on that Hilbert space termed an "observable". These observables play the role of measurable quantities familiar from classical physics: position, momentum, energy, angular momentum and so on. The dimension of the Hilbert space may be infinite, as it is for the space of square-integrable functions on a line, which is used to define the quantum physics of a continuous degree of freedom. Alternatively, the Hilbert space may be finite-dimensional, as occurs for spin degrees of freedom. Many treatments of the theory focus on the finite-dimensional case, as the mathematics involved is somewhat less demanding. Indeed, introductory physics texts on quantum mechanics often gloss over mathematical technicalities that arise for continuous-valued observables and infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces, such as the distinction between bounded and unbounded operators; questions of convergence (whether the limit of a sequence of Hilbert-space elements also belongs to the Hilbert space), exotic possibilities for sets of eigenvalues, like Cantor sets; and so forth. These issues can be satisfactorily resolved using spectral theory; the present article will avoid them whenever possible. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=573875 | 861,883 |
261,438 | Successive governments developed civil defence programmes aimed to prepare civilian and local government infrastructure for a nuclear strike on the UK. A series of seven Civil Defence Bulletin films were produced in 1964, and in the 1980s the most famous such programme was probably the series of booklets and public information films entitled "Protect and Survive". The booklet contained information on building a nuclear refuge within a so-called "fall-out room" at home, sanitation, limiting fire hazards, and descriptions of the audio signals for attack warning, fall-out warning and all clear. It was anticipated that families might need to stay in their fall-out room for up to 14 days after an attack almost without leaving it at all. The government also prepared a recorded announcement which was to have been broadcast by the BBC if a nuclear attack ever did occur. Sirens left over from the London Blitz during World War II were also to be used to warn the public. The system was mostly dismantled in 1992. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2095669 | 261,299 |
1,779,301 | Commercial activities in the undersea realm need precise inputs on the availability of resources to be able to effectively and efficiently explore and exploit them for economic gains. The regulators on the other hand need to know the pattern of exploitation to manage a sustainable plan. With so much commercial and military activity, there is significant impact on the environment. Any conservation initiative needs to precisely estimate the habitat degradation and species vulnerability caused by these activities and assess the ecosystem status. The scientific and research community needs to engage and continuously update knowledge of the multiple aspects of the undersea domain. The underlying requirement for all the stakeholders is to know the developments in the undersea domain, make sense out of these developments and then respond effectively and efficiently to them before they take shape of an event. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60878831 | 1,778,299 |
393,965 | In 1950, the Industrial Engineering department branched off from the Mechanical Engineering department. In 1956, a Civil Engineering Department was formed under Lehigh University graduate Robert L. Ketter, who went on to become Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and later President of the university. In 1959, WBFO was launched as an AM radio station by UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and run by UB's students. The station has since become the launching pad of two modern National Public Radio personalities: Terri Gross and Ira Flatow. In 1961, the Western New York nuclear research program was created at the university. This program installed a miniature, active nuclear fission reactor on the university's South (Main Street) Campus. This program was not particularly active, nor could it compete with other government-run research labs, consequently, the programs performed in this facility were abandoned somewhat shortly after its inception. This reactor was decommissioned in 2005 with little fanfare due to material security concerns. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=465598 | 393,770 |
1,367,936 | Depressive symptoms in pregnant women are linked with poor health outcomes in infants. The rates of hospitalization are found increased for infants who are born to women with high depression levels during pregnancy. Reduced breastfeeding, poor physical growth, lower birth weight, early gestational age and high rates of diarrheal infection are some of the reported outcomes of poor health among infants born to depressed pregnant women. In fact, positive antenatal screenings administered in the first or third trimester are found to be high risk factors for early cessation in breastfeeding. Studies also report that the environmental effects of maternal depression affect the developing fetus to such an extent that the impact can be seen during adulthood of the offspring. The effects are worse for women from low socio-economic backgrounds. In a recent study by Coburn et al., maternal prenatal depressive symptoms predicted significantly higher number of infant health concerns at 12-weeks (3 months) of age. The health concerns included rash, colic, cold, fever, cough, diarrhea, ear infections, and vomiting. Additional concerns for women in low-income backgrounds includes low birth rate and preterm births. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39218436 | 1,367,180 |
1,517,322 | NVM use as synaptic weights in lieu of storage implies significantly different requirements when it comes to target resistance range, number of levels, and programming speed and symmetry. Because the in-memory computation occurs in parallel through the array, many devices are addressed concurrently and therefore need to have a high average resistance to limit energy dissipation. To perform high-accuracy computation and be resilient to noise, the NVM cell needs a large number of distinct states. The programming time needs only to be fast between levels, not from the highest to the lowest resistance states. During each programming cycle (back-propagation), weight updates can be negative or positive, and the up/down traces therefore need symmetry to allow learning algorithms to converge. All NVM technologies do struggle with these targets. ECRAM individual cells can meet such stringent metrics, but also need to demonstrate high-density array yield and stochasticity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64305316 | 1,516,470 |
475,495 | One recent report illustrates a biomimic nephron on hydrogel microfluidic devices with establishing the function of passive diffusion. The complex physiological function of nephron is achieved on the basis of interactions between vessels and tubules (both are hollow channels). However, conventional laboratory techniques usually focus on 2D structures, such as petri-dish that lacks capability to recapitulate real physiology that occurs in 3D. Therefore, the authors developed a new method to fabricate functional, cell-lining and perfusable microchannels inside 3D hydrogel. The vessel endothelial and renal epithelial cells are cultured inside hydrogel microchannel and form cellular coverage to mimic vessels and tubules, respectively. They employed confocal microscope to examine the passive diffusion of one small organic molecule (usually drugs) between the vessels and tubules in hydrogel. The study demonstrates the beneficial potential to mimic renal physiology for regenerative medicine and drug screening. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33980770 | 475,258 |
826,042 | Myron Samuel Scholes ( ; born July 1, 1941) is a Canadian-American financial economist. Scholes is the Frank E. Buck Professor of Finance, Emeritus, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, and co-originator of the Black–Scholes options pricing model. Scholes is currently the chairman of the Board of Economic Advisers of Stamos Capital Partners. Previously he served as the chairman of Platinum Grove Asset Management and on the Dimensional Fund Advisors board of directors, American Century Mutual Fund board of directors and the Cutwater Advisory Board. He was a principal and limited partner at Long-Term Capital Management and a managing director at Salomon Brothers. Other positions Scholes held include the Edward Eagle Brown Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago, senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, director of the Center for Research in Security Prices, and professor of finance at MIT's Sloan School of Management. Scholes earned his PhD at the University of Chicago. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=113518 | 825,598 |
241,244 | In March 2016, the discovery team agreed on a conference call involving representatives from the parties involved on the name "tennessine" for element 117. In June 2016, IUPAC published a declaration stating the discoverers had submitted their suggestions for naming the new elements 115, 117, and 118 to the IUPAC; the suggestion for the element 117 was "tennessine", with a symbol of "Ts", after "the region of Tennessee". The suggested names were recommended for acceptance by the IUPAC Inorganic Chemistry Division; formal acceptance was set to occur after a five-month term following publishing of the declaration expires. In November 2016, the names, including tennessine, were formally accepted. Concerns that the proposed symbol "Ts" may clash with a notation for the tosyl group used in organic chemistry were rejected, following existing symbols bearing such dual meanings: Ac (actinium and acetyl) and Pr (praseodymium and propyl). The naming ceremony for moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson was held on 2 March 2017 at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow; a separate ceremony for tennessine alone had been held at ORNL in January 2017. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=67611 | 241,124 |
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