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1,165,598 | While studying the Rous sarcoma virus at UW-Madison, Temin began to refer to the genetic material that the virus introduced to the cells, the "provirus". Using the antibiotic, actinomycin D, which inhibits the expression of DNA, he determined that the provirus was DNA or was located on the cell's DNA. These results implied that the infecting Rous sarcoma virus was somehow generating complementary double-stranded DNA. Temin's description of how tumor viruses act on the genetic material of the cell through reverse transcription was revolutionary. This upset the widely held belief at the time of a popularized version of the "Central Dogma" of molecular biology posited by Nobel laureate Francis Crick, one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA (along with James Watson and Rosalind Franklin). Crick had claimed only that sequence information cannot flow out of protein into DNA or RNA, but he was commonly interpreted as saying that information flows exclusively from DNA to RNA to protein. Many highly respected scientists disregarded his work and declared it impossible. Despite the lack of support from the scientific community, Temin continued to search for evidence to support his idea. In 1969, Temin and a postdoctoral fellow, Satoshi Mizutani, began searching for the enzyme that was responsible for the phenomenon of viral RNA being transferred into proviral DNA. Later that year, Temin showed that certain tumor viruses carried the enzymatic ability to reverse the flow of information from RNA back to DNA using reverse transcriptase. Reverse transcriptase was also independently and simultaneously discovered in association with the murine leukemia virus by David Baltimore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1975, Baltimore and Temin shared the Nobel Prize of Physiology or Medicine. Both scientists completed their initial work with RNA-dependent DNA polymerase with the Rous sarcoma virus. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=920178 | 1,164,981 |
920,162 | In order for the clathrate hypothesis to be applicable to PETM, the oceans must show signs of having been warmer slightly before the carbon isotope excursion, because it would take some time for the methane to become mixed into the system and -reduced carbon to be returned to the deep ocean sedimentary record. Up until the 2000s, the evidence suggested that the two peaks were in fact simultaneous, weakening the support for the methane theory. In 2002, a short gap between the initial warming and the excursion was detected. In 2007, chemical markers of surface temperature (TEX) had also indicated that warming occurred around 3,000 years before the carbon isotope excursion, although this did not seem to hold true for all cores. However, research in 2005 found no evidence of this time gap in the deeper (non-surface) waters. Moreover, the small apparent change in TEX that precede the anomaly can easily (and more plausibly) be ascribed to local variability (especially on the Atlantic coastal plain, e.g. Sluijs, et al., 2007) as the TEX paleo-thermometer is prone to significant biological effects. The of benthic or planktonic forams does not show any pre-warming in any of these localities, and in an ice-free world, it is generally a much more reliable indicator of past ocean temperatures. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=387369 | 919,676 |
528,560 | The small subunit (SSU) 18S rRNA gene is one of the most frequently used genes in phylogenetic studies and an important marker for random target polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in environmental biodiversity screening. In general, rRNA gene sequences are easy to access due to highly conserved flanking regions allowing for the use of universal primers. Their repetitive arrangement within the genome provides excessive amounts of template DNA for PCR, even in the smallest organisms. The 18S gene is part of the ribosomal functional core and is exposed to similar selective forces in all living beings. Thus, when the first large-scale phylogenetic studies based on 18S sequences were published ("e.g." by Field "et al.", 1988), the gene was celebrated as the prime candidate for reconstructing the metazoan tree of life. 18S sequences later provided evidence for the splitting of Ecdysozoa and Lophotrochozoa clades (monophyletic group of organisms composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants), thus contributing to the most recent revolutionary change in our understanding of metazoan relationships. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16239059 | 528,286 |
2,033,093 | He worked at the University of Kansas, and then at the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico continuing his work with fast neutrons. In 1946 he joined the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he remained for most of his career following a program on determining fast neutron cross-sections, directing the doctoral dissertation research of over forty students. In 1970, his laboratory was destroyed by a terrorist attack on a military research facility there, which seriously injured one of his graduate students and killed a member of another research group. In dismay, he stopped work in nuclear physics, and left for two years at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories where he worked on the development of intense sources of high-energy neutrons for materials testing and medical uses. Returning to Wisconsin, with a joint appointment in the departments of Nuclear Engineering and Physics—and, later, also Medical Physics, he concentrated on the medical application of neutrons in cancer therapy until his retirement in 1986. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1987. His doctoral students include Charles K. Bockelman. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10410636 | 2,031,921 |
1,527,960 | The origin of the discipline of developmental cognitive neuroscience can be traced back to conference held in Philadelphia in 1989 co-funded by NICHD & NIMH, organized by Adele Diamond, that started the process of developmental psychologists, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists talking with one another. To bridge the communication gaps, researchers were invited from different fields who were either using the same experimental paradigms to study the same behaviors or were investigating related scientific questions in complementary ways—though they were unaware of one another’s work. They used different words to talk about their work and had different ways of thinking about it, but the concrete, observable behaviors, and the precise experimental conditions under which those behaviors occurred, served to make translation possible. Participants were a small Who’s Who of leaders in developmental science, behavioral neuroscience, and cognitive science. Several new cross-disciplinary collaborations resulted from it, and it is a testament to the value of what came out of the meeting that Oxford University Press tried to acquire the rights to re-issue the book of the meeting’s proceedings 10 years later—The Development and Neural Basis of Higher Cognitive Functions. (The original printing sold out faster than any other New York Academy of Science Annals issue has before or since.) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=6132187 | 1,527,096 |
1,246,121 | One of the clearest examples of this advantage is the use of mechanical probing techniques which require a direct physical interaction with the sample. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used to image lipid phase separation, formation of transmembrane nanopores followed by single protein molecule adsorption, and protein assembly with sub-nm accuracy without the need for a labeling dye. More recently, AFM has also been used to directly probe the mechanical properties of single bilayers and to perform force spectroscopy on individual membrane proteins. These studies would be difficult or impossible without the use of supported bilayers since the surface of a cell or vesicle is relatively soft and would drift and fluctuate over time. Another example of a physical probe is the use of the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to study binding kinetics at the bilayer surface. Dual polarisation interferometry is a high resolution optical tool for characterising the order and disruption in lipid bilayers during interactions or phase transitions providing complementary data to QCM measurements. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21530463 | 1,245,446 |
1,620,033 | (i) Prof. Bashir and his group has developed microscale devices with integrated dielectrophoretic filters for capture of bacteria and label free electrical sensing methods for subsequent detection of bacterial growth. These approaches can have important implications in clinical and pharmaceutical applications where determination of live and dead bacteria is the rate limiting step, and have significant applications in food safety and water testing (technology licensed to BioVitesse, Inc.). His group has developed a new lysate based impedance spectroscopy method where captured cells are lysed and the lysate is characterized electrically to determine the captured cell count. This method is more sensitive than ELISA but not requiring any labeling steps which are needed for ELISA. The work is the basis of a startup (Daktari, Inc.) and is being applied to detection of CD4+ white blood cells for the global health and detection of AIDS/HIV infection. Since then Prof. Bashir has improved the technique to perform counting of multiple cell types in microfluidic biochips from a drop of blood, and licensed to Prenosis, Inc. aiming to developing point of care cell counters. Also, his group contributed significantly to development of nanopore sensors for electrical detection of DNA molecules. They developed functionalized nanopore sensors to show selective detection of ssDNA molecules, and stacked graphene-dielectric nanopore sensors for detection of DNA and DNA-protein complexes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38591647 | 1,619,118 |
1,964,363 | Of Metochites' early years, nothing is known. He first appears in George Pachymeres' "History" in the year 1273 as one of a small group of clerics who backed the Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos's negotiations for ecclesial union with Rome. Following the Council of Lyons, he served for a time as Michael's ambassador at the papal courts of Gregory X, Innocent V, John XXI, and Nicholas III; among other things, he argued, unsuccessfully, for a joint Greek-Latin crusade against the Turks. After the Union of Lyons was dissolved following the Emperor Michael's death (December 1282), Metochites, along with the patriarch John Bekkos and the archdeacon Constantine Meliteniotes, found himself in political disfavor; anti-unionist councils at Constantinople in 1283 and 1285 reduced him to lay status and charged him with heresy; and he spent some 45 years — by far the greater portion of his life — in prison for remaining loyal to his unionist beliefs. His son, Theodore Metochites, who did not share his father's views on union with Rome, gained great wealth and influence under the Emperor Andronikos II, and was a renowned Byzantine humanist; among his pupils was Nikephoros Gregoras, the historian and anti-palamite theologian. It seems likely that the younger Metochites kept his father supplied with books and writing material; at all events, the elder Metochites wrote a number of books during those 45 years, giving theological and historical justifications for ecclesial union. His books have received little scholarly attention, in part because of the strange, difficult style of Greek in which they are written. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12555440 | 1,963,235 |
1,748,791 | EP is classified as a relaxant type of prostanoid receptor based on its ability, upon activation, to relax certain types of smooth muscle (see Prostaglandin receptors). When initially bound to PGE or any other of its agonists, it mobilizes G proteins containing the Gs alpha subunit (i.e. Gα)-G beta-gamma complexes (i.e. G). The Gα- G complexes dissociate into their Gα and G subunits which in turn regulate cell signaling pathways. In particular, Gα stimulates adenylyl cyclase to raise cellular levels of cAMP thereby activating PKA; PKA activates various types of signaling molecules such as the transcription factor CREB which lead to different types of functional responses depending on cell type. EP also activates the a) GSK-3 pathway which regulates cell migratory responses and innate immune responses including pro-inflammatory cytokine and interleukin production and b) Beta-catenin pathway which regulates not only cell–cell adhesion but also activates the Wnt signaling pathway which, in turn, stimulates the transcription of genes responsible for regulating cell migration and proliferation. In many of these respects, EP actions resemble those of another type of relaxant prostanoid receptor, EP but differs from the contractile prostanoid receptors, EP and EP receptors which mobilize G proteins containing the Gα-Gβγ complex. EP also differs from all the other prostaglandin receptors in that it fails to undergo homologous desensitization. That is, following agonist-induced activation, the other prostaglandin (as well as most types of G protein coupled receptors) quickly become desensitized, often internalized, and whether or not internalized, incapable of activating their G protein targets. This effect limits the duration and extent to which agonists can stimulate cells. EP, by failing to become desensitized, is able to function over prolong periods and later time points than other prostaglandin receptors and therefore potentially able to contribute to more delayed and chronic phases of cellular and tissue responses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14522499 | 1,747,805 |
923,016 | Soviet designation Project 671RTM/RTMK "Shchuka" (pike)—entered service in 1979; 25 were produced until 1991. Quieter than previous Soviet submarines, these ships had four tubes for launching SS-N-21 or SS-N-15 missiles and Type 53 torpedoes, plus another two tubes for launching SS-N-16 missiles and Type 65 torpedoes. 24 tube-launched weapons or 36 mines could be on board. The Victor III class caused a minor furor in NATO intelligence agencies at its introduction because of the distinctive pod on the vertical stern-plane. Speculation immediately mounted that the pod was the housing for some sort of exotic silent propulsion system, possibly a magnetohydrodynamic drive unit. Another theory proposed that it was some sort of weapon system. In the end, the pod was identified as a hydrodynamic housing for a reelable towed passive sonar array; the system was subsequently incorporated into the and SSNs. In October 1983 the towed array of , a Victor III operating west of Bermuda, became tangled with the towed array of US frigate . "K-324" was forced to surface, allowing NATO forces to photograph the pod in its deployed state. The Victor-III class was continuously improved during construction and late production models have a superior acoustic performance. They were long. 21 disposed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=527961 | 922,530 |
2,076,364 | The interwar period saw the emergence in France of the so-called School of Paris, a heterodox group of artists linked to various artistic styles such as post-impressionism, expressionism, cubism and surrealism. The term encompasses a wide variety of artists, both French and foreign, who resided in the French capital in the interval between the two world wars. In the graphic field, Russian-born Marc Chagall stood out, who developed a style denoting Fauvist and Cubist influences, although interpreted in a personal way, with a work of dreamlike tone and intense chromaticism. He began printmaking at the age of thirty-six, with the illustrations for Paul Cassirer's autobiography "Mein Leben" (1923), twenty-six etchings and drypoints. Already established in Paris, he carried out several commissions for the publisher Vollard: "Les âmes mortes" by Nikolai Gogol (1924–1925), "Les Fables" by La Fontaine (1926–1931), "L'Ancien Testament" (1931–1939). Exiled in the United States between 1941 and 1948, he produced here the lithographic series "Four Tales from the Arabian Nights". Back in France, he produced several series of lithographs: "Daphnis and Chloe" (1961), "Circus" (1967), "In the Land of the Gods" (1967); as well as etchings, aquatints, monotypes and the woodcut series "Poems" (1968). Also worth mentioning in this school are: Louis Jou, devoted himself to woodcuts intended for the illustration of books in luxury editions; André Dunoyer de Segonzac devoted himself to intaglio, in which he was a prolific author (1600 plates), his main work was the illustration of the "Georgics" of Virgil (1947); Luc-Albert Moreau excelled in lithography; in poster art, Paul Colin, Jean Carlou and Cassandre stood out, renewing and modernizing the genre. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=72166508 | 2,075,165 |
1,424,012 | In a reply to the above negative review, lead author, Ed. F. Kelly, wrote that the reviewers "inexcusably bypass all the material" that the authors had cited as empirical evidence against physicalism, such as "problems in conventional trace theories of memory, psychological automatisms and secondary centers of consciousness, experiences occurring under extreme physiological conditions such as general anesthesia and cardiac arrest, genius-level creativity, and mystical and psychedelic experiences", and instead dwelt on "subsidiary matters". He dismissed objections to alleged inadequacies in their representation of the historical background of the debate by saying that "this material was intended only to provide general background for readers who may need it, such as students, and not as an in-depth discussion of the history of psychology or the philosophy of mind." He further said that the critics' "offhand, often sarcastic dismissal cannot nullify thousands of experimental and case studies published in peer-reviewed journals" in psychical research (See a review paper by psychologist Etzel Cardeña titled "The Experimental Evidence for Parapsychological Phenomena: A review” published by the American Psychological Association) but also added that "the empirical inadequacies of physicalism are evident whether one takes the evidence from psychical research seriously or not." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28650767 | 1,423,210 |
146,536 | Anti-reflective coatings reduce light lost at every optical surface through reflection at each surface. Reducing reflection via anti-reflective coatings also reduces the amount of "lost" light present inside the telescopic sight which would otherwise make the image appear hazy (low contrast). A telescopic sight with good optical coatings may yield a brighter image than uncoated telescopic sights with a larger objective lens, on account of superior light transmission through the assembly. The first transparent interference-based coating "Transparentbelag (T)" used by Zeiss was invented in 1935 by Olexander Smakula. A classic lens-coating material is magnesium fluoride, which reduces reflected light from 5% to 1%. Modern lens coatings consist of complex multi-layers and reflect only 0.25% or less to yield an image with maximum brightness and natural colors. Determined by the optical properties of the lenses used and intended primary use of the telescopic sight, different coatings are preferred, to optimize light transmission dictated by the human eye luminous efficiency function variance. Maximal light transmission around wavelengths of 555 nm (green) is important for obtaining optimal photopic vision using the eye cone cells for observation in well-lit conditions. Maximal light transmission around wavelengths of 498 nm (cyan) is important for obtaining optimal scotopic vision using the eye rod cells for observation in low light conditions. These allow high-quality 21st century telescopic sights to practically achieve measured over 90% light transmission values in low light conditions. Depending on the coating, the character of the image seen in the telescopic sight under normal daylight can either "warmer" or "colder" and appear either with higher or lower contrast. Subject to the application, the coating is also optimized for maximum color fidelity through the visible spectrum. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1052795 | 146,478 |
2,162,469 | In addition to these fragmentary teeth, the Maevarano Formation has also yielded a nearly complete, articulated skeleton of an immature, cat-sized mammal that has not yet been fully described. It is the most complete mammal known from the Mesozoic of Gondwana. Its skull is damaged, but its unusual dentition is preserved. The incisors (two on each side of the upper and one on each side of the lower jaw) project forwards and are separated from the three or four cheektooth in each side of the lower and upper jaws by a large diastema (gap). It shows primitive features, such as the presence of epipubic bones (in the pelvis), a septomaxilla (a small bone placed between the premaxilla and the maxilla in the upper jaw), and a deep zygomatic arch (cheekbone). On the other hand, it has derived traits like the presence of a well-developed trochlea on the distal (far) end of the humerus (upper arm bone), the absence of a rim at the dorsal (upper) margin of the acetabulum (the opening in the pelvis which receives the head of the femur), a small lesser trochanter of the femur (upper leg bone), reduced contact between the fibula (the smaller of the two lower leg bones) and the calcaneum (heel bone), and the dentition. In a 2000 abstract, Krause identified it as a therian (a member of the group that includes marsupials, placentals, and their closest extinct relatives) more derived than the early Cretaceous "Vincelestes" of Argentina, but in 2006 he and colleagues instead refused to place it in any existing higher-order mammalian group and claimed that "it represents a major new nontherian clade". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27790941 | 2,161,234 |
1,233,395 | Commercial use of space is the provision of goods or services of commercial value by using equipment sent into Earth orbit or outer space. This phenomenon – aka Space Economy (or New Space Economy) – is accelerating cross-sector innovation processes combining the most advanced space and digital technologies to develop a broad portfolio of space-based services. The use of space technologies and of the data they collect, combined with the most advanced enabling digital technologies is generating a multitude of business opportunities that include the development of new products and services all the way to the creation of new business models, and the reconfiguration of value networks and relationships between companies. If well leveraged such technology and business opportunities can contribute to the creation of tangible and intangible value, through new forms and sources of revenue, operating efficiency and the start of new projects leading to multidimensional (e.g. society, environment) positive impact. Examples of the commercial use of space include satellite navigation, satellite television and commercial satellite imagery. Operators of such services typically contract the manufacturing of satellites and their launch to private or public companies, which form an integral part of the space economy. Some commercial ventures have long-term plans to exploit natural resources originating outside Earth, for example asteroid mining. Space tourism, currently an exceptional activity, could also be an area of future growth, as new businesses strive to reduce the costs and risks of human spaceflight. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3816650 | 1,232,732 |
1,559,778 | In the 1920s, new university chancellor John Gabbert Bowman declared that he had a vision for a centerpiece "tall building" for the university. The Frick Acres property in Oakland was soon purchased and plans for the campus shifted focus from the hillside to a neo Gothic Revival plan that today comprises the Cathedral of Learning, Heinz Memorial Chapel, and the Stephen Foster Memorial buildings. By 1925, Bowman had settled on a design by Charles Klauder for the "tall building": an attention-getting tower whose great height, with open spaces all around, would suggest the "character that ought to be in an educated man." The building's "parallel lines going up and up...would express courage [and] fearlessness" and it would "unify Pittsburgh into a community conscious of its character." The Cathedral is "cut off" flat at the top to suggest that its lines, like education, have no ending. The building was financed by donors and by a campaign to collect dimes from local school children. Bowman was a persuasive leader and although the Great Depression intervened, the Cathedral of Learning, on which construction was begun in 1926, was completed in 1937. It remains the second-tallest education building in the world (the tallest in the Western Hemisphere) and contains an equally-impressive interior highlighted by 26 nationality rooms. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13999007 | 1,558,892 |
1,086,536 | British sourced cars maintained their new share into the 1960s when Detroit's big three began to replace British Vauxhalls and Zephyrs with their Australian-made Holden Specials, Falcons and, later, Valiants which soon accounted for a third of the market. All locally assembled cars were their manufacturer's most basic, stripped-down versions with a tiny number of honourable exceptions, the brief post-war runs of Jaguars or Rovers etc. This was brought about by the struggle to meet demand within the amount of cash the government's exchange controls made available. One of the outcomes of import licensing was to make relatively new second hand vehicles more expensive than new ones. Another was the expectation that a car would be made to last a long time and undergo many repairs that would be regarded as uneconomic in almost any other market. This experience may account for the ready acceptance of so very many used imports. Any Government intervention was designed to protect the New Zealand car assembly and related industries and to reduce the effect of vehicle purchases on the country's balance of payments with the rest of the world. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34570831 | 1,085,978 |
736,188 | To mitigate the public relations (PR) nightmare, the NFL has taken several steps to better assure player safety and bring awareness to head injuries in football players of all ages. Several rule changes took place between 2007 and 2014. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell issued a memo in December 2009 to all 32 teams stating that a player who sustains a concussion cannot return to play if he shows signs or symptoms, such as inability to remember assignments or plays, a gap in memory and persistent dizziness. This move changed the 2007 rule saying a player cannot return only if he has lost consciousness. Additionally, new rules regarding "crown of the helmet" tackles have been installed where a runner or a tackler cannot initiate forcible contact with the crown of the helmet outside the tackle box so as to protect players' heads. Lastly, the NFL and USA Football launched the Heads Up Football initiative, which "emphasizes a smarter and safer way to play and teach youth football, including proper tackling and taking the head out of the game." A mobile application was also launched with help from the CDC where information about concussion protocols and player health and safety can be easily reached by parents and coaches. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36082813 | 735,801 |
1,048,671 | During the Cold War, Britain's GCHQ often used the United States National Security Agency (NSA) for communications interception from space. Concern heightened at the time of the 1982 Falklands War. GCHQ requested access to American signals intelligence satellites to assist in monitoring Argentine communications, but reportedly struggled with the NSA to gain appropriate tasking time, despite the special relationship between the two countries. The United States satellites were engaged in monitoring SIGINT traffic elsewhere in South America related to El Salvador. GCHQ therefore decided to produce a UK-designed-and-built signals intelligence satellite, to be called Zircon, a code-name derived from zirconium silicate, a diamond substitute. Its function was to intercept radio and other signals from the USSR, Europe and other areas. The satellite was to be built at Marconi Space and Defence Systems at Portsmouth Airport, at which a new high security building had been built. It was to be launched on a NASA Space Shuttle under the guise of Skynet IV. Launch on the Shuttle would have entitled a British National to fly as a payload specialist and a group of military pilots were presented to the press as candidates for 'Britain's first man in space'. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=671629 | 1,048,126 |
147,650 | In Romania, medical school is a department of a medical university, which typically includes Dentistry and Pharmacy departments as well. The name "facultate" is used for departments in their universities too, but the Medicine departments distinguish themselves by the length of studies (6 years), which grants to graduates a status equivalent to that of a Master in Science. The Medicine departments are also marked by reduced flexibility - in theory, a student in a regular university can take courses from different departments, like Chemistry and Geography (although it usually does not happen, majors being clearly defined), while the medical universities do not have any extra offers for their students, due to their specialization. Admission to medical faculty is usually awarded by passing a Human Biology, Organic Chemistry and/or Physics test. The program lasts 6 years, with first 2 years being preclinical and last 4 years being mostly clinical. After these six years, one has to take the national licence exam (which consists of mostly clinically oriented questions, but some questions also deal with basic sciences) and has to write a thesis in any field he/she studied. Final award is "Doctor-Medic (titlu onorific)" (shortened Dr.), which is not an academic degree (similar to Germany). All graduates have to go through residency and specialization exams after that in order to practice, although older graduates had different requirements and training (e.g., clinical rotations similar to sub-internship) and might still be able to practice Family Medicine / General Medicine. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=465584 | 147,591 |
1,154,742 | Levy also wrote "Love and Sex with Robots", published in the United States in 2007 by HarperCollins, and in paperback in 2009 by Duckworth in the UK. It is the commercial edition of his PhD thesis, which he defended successfully on 11 October 2007, at Maastricht University, Netherlands. On 17 January 2008, he appeared on the late night television show "The Colbert Report" to promote his book. In September 2009, Levy predicted that sex robots would hit the market within a couple of years. He defended his controversial views on the potential future wide use of sex robots by the public, and also by sex offenders, in an interview with "The Guardian" newspaper in December 2015. Levy has also been working on a range of sexually erotic chatbots, which have been created by a team based in a lab in Malaysia. However his research into human-robot sexual relations has not been viewed favourably by the Malaysian authorities who ruled the 2015 Congress on Love and Sex with Robots, which was due to be co-chaired by Levy, as illegal following the organisers' attempt to imply the Malaysian governments' endorsement by using the Tourism Malaysia logo on their website. The Congress on Love and Sex with Robots was again cancelled in 2018. Initially committee members of the International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment (ACE) objected to plans to partner the two events in Montana and Springer Nature cancelled plans to publish the proceedings due to a lack of academic papers. Further controversy then arose over the invitation of Steve Bannon to keynote at ACE leading to both events being cancelled. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=591100 | 1,154,132 |
892,661 | Risk assessment and management is a growth area in the forensic field, with much Canadian academic work being done in Ontario and British Columbia. This began with the attempt to predict the likelihood of a particular kind of offense being repeated, by combining "static" indicators from personal history and offense details in actuarial instruments such as the RRASOR and Static-99, which were shown to be more accurate than unaided professional judgment. More recently, use is being made also of "dynamic" risk factors, such as attitudes, impulsivity, mental state, family and social circumstances, substance use, and the availability and acceptance of support, to make a "structured professional judgment." The aim of this is to move away from prediction to prevention, by identifying and then managing risk factors. This may entail monitoring, treatment, rehabilitation, supervision, and victim safety planning and depends on the availability of funding and legal powers. These schemes may be based on published assessments such as the HCR-20 (which incorporates 10 Historical, 5 Clinical and 5 Risk Management factors) and the risk of sexual violence protocol from Simon Fraser University, BC. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=888694 | 892,192 |
860,419 | A crewmember of typical size requires approximately of food, water, and oxygen per day to perform standard activities on a space mission, and outputs a similar amount in the form of waste solids, waste liquids, and carbon dioxide. The mass breakdown of these metabolic parameters is as follows: of oxygen, of food, and of water consumed, converted through the body's physiological processes to of solid wastes, of liquid wastes, and of carbon dioxide produced. These levels can vary due to activity level of a specific mission assignment, but must obey the principle of mass balance. Actual water use during space missions is typically double the given value, mainly due to non-biological use (e.g. showering). Additionally, the volume and variety of waste products varies with mission duration to include hair, finger nails, skin flaking, and other biological wastes in missions exceeding one week in length. Other environmental considerations such as radiation, gravity, noise, vibration, and lighting also factor into human physiological response in outer space, though not with the more immediate effect that the metabolic parameters have. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=897136 | 859,961 |
1,962,896 | Carl Petersen obtained a BSc in physics from the University of Oxford in 1992. During his PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. Sir Michael Berridge at the University of Cambridge (1992-1996), he investigated cellular and molecular mechanisms of calcium signalling. In his first postdoctoral period (1996-1998), he joined the laboratory of Prof. Roger Nicoll at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) to investigate synaptic transmission and plasticity in the hippocampus. During a second postdoctoral period, in the laboratory of Prof. Bert Sakmann at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg (1999-2003), he began working on the primary somatosensory barrel cortex, investigating cortical circuits and sensory processing. Carl Petersen joined the Brain Mind Institute of the School of Life Sciences at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2003, setting up the Laboratory of Sensory Processing to investigate the functional operation of neural circuits in awake mice during quantified behavior. In 2019, Carl Petersen became the Director of the EPFL Brain Mind Institute, with the goal to promote quantitative multidisciplinary research into neural structure, function, dysfunction, computation and therapy through technological advances. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=57423198 | 1,961,768 |
539,146 | MDEA is less reactive towards CO, but has an equilibrium loading capacity approaching 1 mole CO per mole amine. It also requires less energy to regenerate. To combine the advantages of MDEA and the smaller amines, MDEA is usually mixed with a catalytic promoter such as piperazine, PZ, or a fast reacting amine such as MEA to retain reactivity, but lower regeneration costs. Activated MDEA or aMDEA uses piperazine as a catalyst to increase the speed of the reaction with CO. It has been commercially successful. Many tests have been done on the performance of MDEA/MEA or MDEA/piperazine mixtures compared to single amines. CO production rates were higher than MEA for the same heat duty and total molar concentration when experiments were performed in the University of Regina pilot plant, which is a modeled after a natural gas plant. There were also insignificant trace amounts of degradation products detected. However, when the same control variables and tests were conducted at the Boundary Dam Power Station plant, the CO production rate for the mixed solvent was lower than MEA. This was a result of the reduction in the capacity of the solvent to absorb CO after degradation. Because the Boundary Dam plant is a coal-fired power plant, it operates under harsher environments and produces an impure flue gas containing, fly ash, SO, and NO that are fed into carbon capture. Even with flue gas pretreatment, there is still enough to produce degradation products such as | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17403365 | 538,866 |
1,879,663 | By 1843 the colony's expanding wheat crop threatened to exceed the capacity of the work force available to harvest it. Ridley gave much time to the problem of devising a mechanical method of harvesting the wheat and building a reaper based on a woodcut in John Claudius Loudon's "An Encyclopaedia of Agriculture" (3rd ed., London, 1835). In September 1843 the corn exchange committee offered a prize of £40 to anyone submitting a model or plans of a reaper of which the committee would approve. Ridley did not compete because his machine was nearing completion in the factory of John Stokes Bagshaw. On 23 September 1843 it was reported that several models and plans had been submitted, but no machine had been exhibited which the committee felt justified in recommending for general adoption. In October Ridley's machine was ready for its first tests, and a month later a rebuilt machine was successfully tested on his tenant's crop, reaping in a week. On 18 November 1843 the Adelaide "Observer" announced that "a further trial of Mr Ridley's machine has established its success". Over the next year he planned the improvement and manufacture of the machine, in 1845 he made seven machines, and by 1850 over 50 machines were operating in the colony and others had been exported. The Ridley stripper received a Historic Engineering Marker from Engineers Australia as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=12836793 | 1,878,582 |
809,557 | The wear, friction, and electrical properties of DLC make it an appealing material for medical applications. DLC has proved to have excellent bio-compatibility as well. This has enabled many medical procedures, such as Percutaneous coronary intervention employing brachytherapy to benefit from the unique electrical properties of DLC. At low voltages and low temperatures electrodes coated with DLC can emit enough electrons to be arranged into disposable, micro-X-ray tubes as small as the radioactive seeds that are introduced into arteries or tumors in conventional brachytherapy. The same dose of prescribed radiation can be applied "from the inside, out" with the additional possibility to switch on and off the radiation in the prescribed pattern for the X-rays being used. DLC has proved to be an excellent coating to prolong the life of and reduce complications with replacement hip joints and artificial knees. It also has been successfully applied to coronary artery stents, reducing the incidence of thrombosis. The implantable human heart pump can be considered the ultimate biomedical application where DLC coating is used on blood contacting surfaces of the key components of the device. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1821411 | 809,126 |
318,627 | When anxiety occurs, the mind's first response is to seek rational ways of escaping the situation by increasing problem-solving efforts and a range of defense mechanisms may be triggered. These are ways that the ego develops to help deal with the id and the superego. Defense mechanisms often appear unconsciously and tend to distort or falsify reality. When the distortion of reality occurs, there is a change in perception which allows for a lessening in anxiety resulting in a reduction of tension one experiences. Sigmund Freud noted a number of ego defenses that were noted throughout his work but his daughter, Anna Freud, developed and elaborated on them. The defense mechanisms are as follows: 1) Denial is believing that what is true is actually false 2) Displacement is taking out impulses on a less threatening target 3) Intellectualization is avoiding unacceptable emotions by focusing on the intellectual aspects 4) Projection is attributing uncomfortable feelings to others 5) Rationalization is creating false but believable justifications 6) Reaction Formation is taking the opposite belief because the true belief causes anxiety 7) Regression is going back to a previous stage of development 8) Repression is pushing uncomfortable thoughts out of conscious awareness 9) Suppression is consciously forcing unwanted thoughts out of our awareness 10) Sublimation is redirecting ‘wrong’ urges into socially acceptable actions. These defenses are not under our conscious control and our unconscious will use one or more to protect one's self from stressful situations. They are natural and normal and without these, neurosis develops such as anxiety states, phobias, obsessions, or hysteria. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40542426 | 318,456 |
65,256 | The fighter-bomber version (F-86H) could carry up to of bombs, including an external fuel-type tank that could carry napalm. Unguided rockets were used on some fighters on training missions, but rockets were later carried on combat operations. The F-86 could also be fitted with a pair of external jettisonable jet fuel tanks (four on the F-86F beginning in 1953) that extended the range of the aircraft. Both the interceptor and fighter-bomber versions carried six M3 Browning machine guns with electrically-boosted feed in the nose (later versions of the F-86H carried four cannon instead of machine guns). Firing at a rate of 1,200 rounds per minute, the 0.50-inch guns were harmonized to converge at in front of the aircraft, using armor-piercing (AP) and armor-piercing incendiary (API) rounds, with one armor-piercing incendiary tracer (APIT) for every five AP or API rounds. The API rounds used during the Korean War contained magnesium, which were designed to ignite upon impact, but burned poorly above as oxygen levels were insufficient to sustain combustion at that height. Initial planes were fitted with the Mark 18 manual-ranging computing gun sight. The last 24 F-86A-5-Nas and F-86Es were equipped with the A-1CM gunsight-AN/APG-30 radar, which used radar to automatically compute a target's range, which later proved to be advantageous against MiG opponents over Korea. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=359331 | 65,231 |
1,105,495 | AeroMedical examinations aim at screening for elevation in risk of sudden incapacitation, such as a tendency towards myocardial infarction (heart attacks), epilepsy or the presence of metabolic conditions diabetes, etc. which may lead to hazardous condition at altitude. The goal of the AeroMedical Examination is to protect the life and health of pilots and passengers by making reasonable medical assurance that an individual is fit to fly. Other screened conditions such as colour blindness can prevent a person from flying because of an inability to perform a function that is necessary. In this case to tell green from red. These specialized medical exams consist of physical examinations performed by an Aviation Medical Examiner or a military Flight Surgeon, doctors trained to screen potential aircrew for identifiable medical conditions that could lead to problems while performing airborne duties. In addition, this unique population of aircrews is a high-risk group for several diseases and harmful conditions due to irregular work shifts with irregular sleeping and irregular meals (usually carbonated drinks and high energy snacks) and work-related stress. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=991893 | 1,104,932 |
352,217 | By the late 18th century, Lyme Regis had become a popular seaside resort, especially after 1792 when the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars made travel to the European mainland dangerous for the English gentry, and increasing numbers of wealthy and middle-class tourists were arriving there. Even before Anning's time, locals supplemented their income by selling what were called "curios" to visitors. These were fossils with colourful local names such as "snake-stones" (ammonites), "devil's fingers" (belemnites), and "verteberries" (vertebrae), to which were sometimes attributed medicinal and mystical properties. Fossil collecting was in vogue in the late 18th and early 19th century, at first as a pastime, but gradually transforming into a science as the importance of fossils to geology and biology was understood. The source of most of these fossils were the coastal cliffs around Lyme Regis, part of a geological formation known as the Blue Lias. This consists of alternating layers of limestone and shale, laid down as sediment on a shallow seabed early in the Jurassic period (about 210–195 million years ago). It is one of the richest fossil locations in Britain. The cliffs could be dangerously unstable, however, especially in winter when rain caused landslides. It was precisely during the winter months that collectors were drawn to the cliffs because the landslides often exposed new fossils. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=38334 | 352,034 |
1,528,001 | Several computational methods were developed, with a limited success, for predicting transmembrane alpha-helices and their topology. Pioneer methods utilized the fact that membrane-spanning regions contain more hydrophobic residues than other parts of the protein, however applying different hydrophobic scales altered the prediction results. Later, several statistical methods were developed to improve the topography prediction and a special alignment method was introduced. According to the positive-inside rule, cytosolic loops near the lipid bilayer contain more positively-charged amino acids. Applying this rule resulted in the first topology prediction methods. There is also a negative-outside rule in transmembrane alpha-helices from single-pass proteins, although negatively charged residues are rarer than positively charged residues in transmembrane segments of proteins. As more structures were determined, machine learning algorithms appeared. Supervised learning methods are trained on a set of experimentally determined structures, however, these methods highly depend on the training set. Unsupervised learning methods are based on the principle that topology depends on the maximum divergence of the amino acid distributions in different structural parts. It was also shown that locking a segment location based on prior knowledge about the structure improves the prediction accuracy. This feature has been added to some of the existing prediction methods. The most recent methods use consensus prediction (i.e. they use several algorithm to determine the final topology) and automatically incorporate previously determined experimental informations. HTP database provides a collection of topologies that are computationally predicted for human transmembrane proteins. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=169448 | 1,527,137 |
811,532 | The mechanism of the Wolff–Kishner reduction has been studied by Szmant and coworkers. According to Szmant's research, the first step in this reaction is the formation of a hydrazone anion 1 by deprotonation of the terminal nitrogen by MOH. If semicarbazones are used as substrates, initial conversion into the corresponding hydrazone is followed by deprotonation. A range of mechanistic data suggests that the rate-determining step involves formation of a new carbon–hydrogen bond at the carbon terminal in the delocalized hydrazone anion. This proton capture takes place in a concerted fashion with a solvent-induced abstraction of the second proton at the nitrogen terminal. Szmant’s finding that this reaction is first order in both hydroxide ion and ketone hydrazone supports this mechanistic proposal. Several molecules of solvent have to be involved in this process in order to allow for a concerted process. A detailed Hammett analysis of aryl aldehydes, methyl aryl ketones and diaryl ketones showed a non-linear relationship which the authors attribute to the complexity of the rate-determining step. Mildly electron-withdrawing substituents favor carbon-hydrogen bond formation, but highly electron-withdrawing substituents will decrease the negative charge at the terminal nitrogen and in turn favor a bigger and harder solvation shell that will render breaking of the N-H bond more difficult. The exceptionally high negative entropy of activation values observed can be explained by the high degree of organization in the proposed transition state. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1216247 | 811,100 |
1,191,416 | "Selectivity" is a very important part of organic synthesis. In scientific papers regarding synthesis, selectivity is often listed in data tables alongside percent yield and other reaction conditions. While selectivity is deemed important in scientific literature, it has been challenging to effectively implement selectivity in drug development and production. A major issue with selectivity in pharmaceuticals is that a large percentage of drug syntheses by nature are not selective reactions, racemic mixtures are formed as the products. Separating racemic mixtures into their respective enantiomers takes extra time, money, and energy. One way to separate enantiomers is to chemically convert them into species that can be separated: diastereomers. Diastereomers, unlike enantiomers, have entirely different physical properties—boiling points, melting points, NMR shifts, solubilities—and they can be separated by conventional means such as chromatography or recrystallization. This is a whole extra step in the synthesis process and not desirable from a manufacturing standpoint. As a result, a number of pharmaceuticals are synthesized and marketed as a racemic mixture of enantiomers in cases where the less-effective enantiomer is benign. However, by identifying and specifically purifying the enantiomer which effectively binds to its respective binding site in the body, less of the drug would be needed to achieve the desired effect. With the improvement of chiral technology, a rich repertoire of enantioselective chromatographic methods have become available for the separation of drug enantiomers on the analytical, preparative, and industrial scales. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23616040 | 1,190,782 |
321,464 | Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), particularly type 16 (there are over 180 types), is a known risk factor and independent causative factor for oral cancer. A fast-growing segment of those diagnosed does not present with the historic stereotypical demographics. Historically that has been people over 50, blacks over whites 2 to 1, males over females 3 to 1, and 75% of the time people who have used tobacco products or are heavy users of alcohol. This new and rapidly growing subpopulation between 30 and 50 years old, is predominantly nonsmoking, white, and males slightly outnumber females. Recent research from multiple peer-reviewed journal articles indicates that HPV16 is the primary risk factor in this new population of people with oral cancer. HPV16 (along with HPV18) is the same virus responsible for the vast majority of all cervical cancers and is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the US. Oral cancer in this group tends to favor the tonsil and tonsillar pillars, base of the tongue, and the oropharynx. Recent data suggest that individuals who develop the disease from this particular cause have a significant survival advantage, as the disease responds better to radiation treatments than tobacco caused disease. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=414186 | 321,292 |
29,254 | Microwaves are radio waves of short wavelength, from about 10 centimeters to one millimeter, in the SHF and EHF frequency bands. Microwave energy is produced with klystron and magnetron tubes, and with solid state devices such as Gunn and IMPATT diodes. Although they are emitted and absorbed by short antennas, they are also absorbed by polar molecules, coupling to vibrational and rotational modes, resulting in bulk heating. Unlike higher frequency waves such as infrared and light which are absorbed mainly at surfaces, microwaves can penetrate into materials and deposit their energy below the surface. This effect is used to heat food in microwave ovens, and for industrial heating and medical diathermy. Microwaves are the main wavelengths used in radar, and are used for satellite communication, and wireless networking technologies such as Wi-Fi. The copper cables (transmission lines) which are used to carry lower frequency radio waves to antennas have excessive power losses at microwave frequencies, and metal pipes called waveguides are used to carry them. Although at the low end of the band the atmosphere is mainly transparent, at the upper end of the band absorption of microwaves by atmospheric gasses limits practical propagation distances to a few kilometers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10134 | 29,244 |
1,192,068 | Initial resuscitation of trauma patients continues to evolve. Massive transfusion (defined as receiving greater than or equal to 10 units of packed red blood cells with a 24-hour period) is required in up to 5% of civilian trauma patients that arrive severely injured. Patients who are arriving severely injured to trauma centers can be coagulopathic. In fact, data suggests that around 25% of patients arrive having coagulopathy. New ways of measuring coagulopathy such at thromboelstography (TEG) and rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) have allowed for a more robust assessment of the coagulation cascade compared to traditional methods of measuring international normalized ratio (INR) allowing clinicians to better target areas of deficiency. For trauma teams to systematically and efficiently deliver blood products institutions have created protocols that allow for this. The protocols allow for clear communication between the trauma center, blood bank, nurses, and other ancillary staff. They also allow for the quick delivery of certain set of blood products depending upon the institution. One example might be that a “cooler” would contain 10 units of packed red blood cells, 10 units of plasma, and 2 packs of platelets. The idea is that the coolers would continue to be delivered to the location where the patient is being treated until the trauma team leader (typically the trauma surgeon) would discontinue the order Certain factors have been looked at by Callcut and colleagues to determine the predictive ability of patients arriving at trauma centers. The different variables were systolic blood pressure below 90, hemoglobin <11 g/dL, temperature <35.5, INR > 1.5, base deficit >=6, heart rate >= 120 bpm, presence of penetrating trauma, and positive Focused Abdominal Sonography Trauma (FAST) exam. All the variables were found to be predictive of the need of massive transfusion protocol except for temperature (Callcut 2013). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36643113 | 1,191,432 |
1,591,695 | The Warrior & The Caregiver. Who cares for the carer? Stankovic's training in psychological warfare found extension and expression as a performance coach in civilian life combining his unusual experiences of overcoming adversity with depth psychology coaching systems such as the Pearson-Marr Archetype Indicator (PMAI). He trained as a coach in the US, principally on Hawaii, in California and at Sedona in Arizona. Between 2008 and 2014 he suspended his working life to care for his elderly mother until her death in August 2014. He ascribes his transition from a warrior- to a caregiver-centric archetype as the central experience that helped him to understand and cope with the unique psychological demands involved with caring for an elderly parent up to their death. Central to the psychological health of the carer are coping strategies for dealing with changes in personal core identity that occur when caregivers transition from their pre-caregiver identities into caregivers, and from that identity, once the care role has ceased, to a post-caring identity. The smoothness and duration of the transition into each phase is determined by psychological self-knowledge, which he believes plays a vital role in helping untrained family caregivers better understand themselves and their own reactions to the unique and challenging pressures that domestic caregiving creates. This issue becomes increasingly relevant as the population ages, the State is unable to fund care for the aged and the duty of care falls to family members. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13845488 | 1,590,799 |
32,115 | Considered to be possibly "the most influential researcher in scientific computing of all time", von Neumann made several contributions to the field, both on the technical side and on the administrative side. He was one of the key developers of the stability analysis procedure that now bears his name, a scheme used to ensure that when linear partial differential equation are solved numerically, the errors at each time step of the calculation do not build up. This scheme is still the mostly commonly used technique for stability analysis today. His paper with Herman Goldstine in 1947 was the first to describe backward error analysis, although only implicitly. He was also among the first researchers to write about the Jacobi method. During his time at Los Alamos, he was the first to consider how to solve various problems of gas dynamics numerically, writing several classified reports on the topic. However, he was frustrated by the lack of progress with analytic methods towards solving these problems, many of which were nonlinear. As a result, he turned towards computational methods in order to break the deadlock. While von Neumann only occasionally worked there as a consultant, under his influence Los Alamos became the undisputed leader in computational science during the 1950s and early 1960s. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15942 | 32,104 |
730,214 | Partly in response to what he saw as unsound and unscientific speculations by William Buckland and other practitioners of flood geology, Charles Lyell advocated the geological theory of uniformitarianism in his influential work "Principles of Geology". Lyell amassed evidence, both from his own field research and the work of others, that most geological features could be explained by the slow action of present-day forces, such as vulcanism, earthquakes, erosion, and sedimentation rather than past catastrophic events. Lyell also claimed that the apparent evidence for catastrophic changes in the fossil record, and even the appearance of directional succession in the history of life, were illusions caused by imperfections in that record. For instance he argued that the absence of birds and mammals from the earliest fossil strata was merely an imperfection in the fossil record attributable to the fact that marine organisms were more easily fossilized. Also Lyell pointed to the Stonesfield mammal as evidence that mammals had not necessarily been preceded by reptiles, and to the fact that certain Pleistocene strata showed a mixture of extinct and still surviving species, which he said showed that extinction occurred piecemeal rather than as a result of catastrophic events. Lyell was successful in convincing geologists of the idea that the geological features of the earth were largely due to the action of the same geologic forces that could be observed in the present day, acting over an extended period of time. He was not successful in gaining support for his view of the fossil record, which he believed did not support a theory of directional succession. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7991116 | 729,829 |
457,945 | Besides boosting and economizing, it is possible to produce cascade subcooling systems, able to subcool the liquid with an analogous and separate system. This procedure is complex and costly as it involves the use of a complete system (with compressors and all of the gear) only for subcooling. Still, the idea has raised some investigation as there are some purported benefits. Furthermore, the United States Department of Energy issued a "Federal Technology Alert" mentioning refrigerant subcooling as a reliable way of improving the performance of systems and saving energy. Making this kind of system operationally independent from the main system and commercially possible is subject to study due to the mentioned claims. The separation of the subcooling unit from the main cycle (in terms of design) is not known to be an economically viable alternative. This kind of system usually requires the use of expensive electronic control systems to monitor the fluid thermodynamic conditions. Recently, a product capable of increasing the system's capacity by adding mechanical subcooling to any generic unspecific refrigeration system has been developed in Chile. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28917399 | 457,722 |
1,298,206 | "O"-GlcNAc is generally a dynamic modification that can be cycled on and off various proteins. Some residues are thought to be constitutively modified by "O"-GlcNAc. The "O"-GlcNAc modification is installed by OGT in a sequential bi-bi mechanism where the donor sugar, UDP-GlcNAc, binds to OGT first followed by the substrate protein. The "O"-GlcNAc modification is removed by OGA in a hydrolysis mechanism involving anchimeric assistance (substrate-assisted catalysis) to yield the unmodified protein and GlcNAc. While crystal structures have been reported for both OGT and OGA, the exact mechanisms by which OGT and OGA recognize substrates have not been completely elucidated. Unlike "N"-linked glycosylation, for which glycosylation occurs in a specific consensus sequence (Asn-X-Ser/Thr, where X is any amino acid except Pro), no definitive consensus sequence has been identified for "O"-GlcNAc. Consequently, predicting sites of "O"-GlcNAc modification is challenging, and identifying modification sites generally requires mass spectrometry methods. For OGT, studies have shown that substrate recognition is regulated by a number of factors including aspartate and asparagine ladder motifs in the lumen of the superhelical TPR domain, active site residues, and adaptor proteins. As crystal structures have shown that OGT requires its substrate to be in an extended conformation, it has been proposed that OGT has a preference for flexible substrates. In "in vitro" kinetic experiments measuring OGT and OGA activity on a panel of protein substrates, kinetic parameters for OGT were shown to be variable between various proteins while kinetic parameters for OGA were relatively constant between various proteins. This result suggested that OGT is the "senior partner" in regulating "O"-GlcNAc and OGA primarily recognizes substrates via the presence of "O"-GlcNAc rather than the identity of the modified protein. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=44457563 | 1,297,494 |
102,842 | Thermite hand grenades and charges are typically used by armed forces in both an antimateriel role and in the partial destruction of equipment, the latter being common when time is not available for safer or more thorough methods. For example, thermite can be used for the emergency destruction of cryptographic equipment when there is a danger that it might be captured by enemy troops. Because standard iron-thermite is difficult to ignite, burns with practically no flame and has a small radius of action, standard thermite is rarely used on its own as an incendiary composition. In general, an increase in the volume of gaseous reaction products of a thermite blend increases the heat transfer rate (and therefore damage) of that particular thermite blend. It is usually used with other ingredients that increase its incendiary effects. Thermate-TH3 is a mixture of thermite and pyrotechnic additives that have been found superior to standard thermite for incendiary purposes. Its composition by weight is generally about 68.7% thermite, 29.0% barium nitrate, 2.0% sulfur, and 0.3% of a binder (such as PBAN). The addition of barium nitrate to thermite increases its thermal effect, produces a larger flame, and significantly reduces the ignition temperature. Although the primary purpose of Thermate-TH3 by the armed forces is as an incendiary anti-materiel weapon, it also has uses in welding together metal components. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52381 | 102,797 |
1,405,229 | The standard 12 lead electrocardiogram (ECG) has several limitations. An ECG represents a brief sample in time. Because unstable ischemic syndromes have rapidly changing supply versus demand characteristics, a single ECG may not accurately represent the entire picture. It is therefore desirable to obtain "serial" 12 lead ECGs, particularly if the first ECG is obtained during a pain-free episode. Alternatively, many emergency departments and chest pain centers use computers capable of continuous ST segment monitoring. The standard 12 lead ECG also does not directly examine the right ventricle, and is relatively poor at examining the posterior basal and lateral walls of the left ventricle. In particular, acute myocardial infarction in the distribution of the circumflex artery is likely to produce a nondiagnostic ECG. The use of additional ECG leads like right-sided leads V3R and V4R and posterior leads V7, V8, and V9 may improve sensitivity for right ventricular and posterior myocardial infarction. In spite of these limitations, the 12 lead ECG stands at the center of risk stratification for the patient with suspected acute myocardial infarction. Mistakes in interpretation are relatively common, and the failure to identify high risk features has a negative effect on the quality of patient care. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27732712 | 1,404,439 |
896,216 | This trade-off does not apply to vacuum insulated glass (VIG), or evacuated glazing, as heat loss due to convection is eliminated, leaving radiation losses and conduction through the edge seal and required supporting pillars over the face area. These VIG units have most of the air removed from the space between the panes, leaving a nearly-complete vacuum. VIG units which are currently on the market are hermetically sealed along their perimeter with solder glass, that is, a glass frit (powdered glass) having a reduced melting point is heated to join the components. This creates a glass seal that experiences increasing stress with increasing temperature differential across the unit. This stress may limit the maximum allowable temperature differential. One manufacturer provides a recommendation of 35 °C. Closely spaced pillars are required to reinforce the glazing to resist the pressure of the atmosphere. Pillar spacing and diameter limited the insulation achieved by designs available beginning in the 1990s to R = 4.7 h·°F·ft2/BTU (0.83 m2·K/W) no better than high quality double glazed insulated glass units. Recent products claim performance of R = 14 h·°F·ft2/BTU (2.5 m2·K/W) which exceeds triple glazed insulated glass units. The required internal pillars exclude applications where an unobstructed view through the glazing unit is desired, i.e. most residential and commercial windows, and refrigerated food display cases. VIG equipped windows, however, under-perform due to intense edge heat transfer. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=30875702 | 895,745 |
1,981,939 | During the late sixties and early seventies, when Charles, Prince of Wales played for the Cambridge side, polo at Oxford enjoyed a winning streak with eight wins in a row. Ironically, one of the strongest teams ever entered saw this streak ending. In 1974, Syed Shahid Ali and Arturo Goetz were both on three goals, with the remaining players one-goalers. Cambridge could only form a team with a total handicap of minus one but were nonetheless victorious. Many of the players from this period are now well-known figures in the polo world. General Sir Redmond Watt played off a two-goal handicap while at university and subsequently became one of the highest rated Old Blue after the war when he peaked at five-goals. Claire Tomlinson (née Lucas), who was rated at nought-goals at university, became one of polo's few true masters of the number one position and the first woman in the world to rise to five goals. She swept away the rule forbidding women in British high-goal and became the first to compete on equal terms with men at the top tier. Her participation in the Varsity Match 1964 as the first female player was a milestone in the history of the match. In 1966, she became the first female captain of OUPC. It was also through the coaching of her father Arthur Lucas and his Easter Vacation Training Camps at Woolmer's Park, at the home of the Lucas family, that many young riders were encouraged to start playing polo at university. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40015233 | 1,980,800 |
98,384 | Much of the recording equipment used to create the movie's intricately complicated sound effects was, at the time, extremely cutting-edge. Among these pieces of equipment was the ADS ("Advanced Digital Synthesizer") 11, manufactured by Pasadena, California custom synthesizer manufacturer Con Brio, Inc. The movie provided major publicity and was used to advertise the synthesizer, though no price was given. The film's soundtrack also provided a debut for the Blaster Beam, an electronic instrument long. It was created by musician Craig Huxley, who played a small role in an episode of the original television series. The Blaster had steel wires connected to amplifiers fitted to the main piece of aluminum; the device was played with an artillery shell. Goldsmith heard it and immediately decided to use it for V'Ger's cues. Several state-of-the-art synthesizers were used as musical instruments, notably the Yamaha CS-80, ARP 2600, Oberheim OB-X, and Serge synthesizer. An enormous pipe organ first plays the V'Ger theme on the "Enterprise"s approach, a literal indication of the machine's power. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=277006 | 98,342 |
1,575,245 | Theodore Berger and his colleagues at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles have developed a working hippocampal prosthesis that passed the live tissue test in slices of brain tissue in 2004. In 2011, in collaboration with Drs. Sam A. Deadwyler and Robert E. Hampson at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center successfully tested a proof-of-concept hippocampal prosthesis in awake, behaving rats. The prosthesis was in the form of multisite electrodes positioned to record from both the input and output "sides" of the damaged hippocampus, the input is gathered and analyzed by external computation chips, an appropriate feedback is computed, then used to stimulate the appropriate output pattern in the brain so that the prosthesis functioned like a real hippocampus. In 2012, the team tested a further implementation in macaques prefrontal cortex, further developing the neural prosthesis technology. In 2013, Hampson et al. successfully tested a hippocampal prosthesis on non-human primates. While the device does not yet consist of a fully implantable "chip," these tests, from rat to monkey, demonstrate the effectiveness of the device as a neural prosthetic, and supports application to human trials. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29826376 | 1,574,356 |
799,104 | The continued storage of GAGs leads to abnormalities in multiple organ systems. After 18 months, children with severe MPS II may experience developmental decline and progressive loss of skills. The thickening of the heart valves and walls of the heart can result in progressive decline in cardiac function. The walls of the airway may become thickened, as well, leading to obstructive airway disease. As the liver and spleen grow larger with time, the abdomen may become distended, making hernias more noticeable. All major joints may be affected by MPS II, leading to joint stiffness and limited motion. Progressive involvement of the finger and thumb joints results in decreased ability to pick up small objects. The effects on other joints, such as hips and knees, can make walking normally increasingly difficult. If carpal tunnel syndrome develops, a further decrease in hand function can occur. The bones themselves may be affected, resulting in short stature. In addition, pebbly, ivory-colored skin lesions may be found on the upper arms, legs, and upper back of some people with it. These skin lesions are considered pathognomonic for the disease. Finally, the storage of GAGs in the brain can lead to delayed development with subsequent intellectual disability and progressive loss of function. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5650081 | 798,679 |
2,022,992 | Accurate interatomic potentials are essential to analyze assemblies of atoms, molecules, and nanostructures up to the small microscale. IFF is used in molecular dynamics simulations of nanomaterials and biological interfaces. Structures up to ten thousands of atoms can be analyzed on a workstation, and up to a billion atoms using supercomputing. Examples include properties of metals and alloys, mineral-organic interfaces, protein- and DNA-nanomaterial interactions, earth and building materials, carbon nanostructures, batteries, and polymer composites. The simulations visualize atomically resolved processes and quantify relationships to macroscale properties that are elusive from experiments due to limitations in imaging and tracking of atoms. Modeling thereby complements experimental studies by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy and tomography, such as transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, as well as several types of spectroscopy, calorimetry, and electrochemical measurements. Knowledge of the 3D atomic structures and dynamic changes over time is key to understanding the function of sensors, molecular signatures of diseases, and material properties. Computations with IFF can also be used to screen large numbers of hypothetical materials for guidance in synthesis and processing. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=64170778 | 2,021,828 |
2,136,655 | In parallel, he was involved in a dispute with Raicu Ionescu-Rion and Garabet Ibrăileanu, after he allowed psychological novel techniques to seep into his prose and spoke in favor of the Decadent movement (placing decadent novels on equal footing with works of social criticism). His primordial interest in the subjective experience led him to claim that there was no possibility for a completely objective perspective (an idea akin to his Impressionist tenets). He argued: "I understand the word "writing" to mean the original, superior and beautiful gift of materializing a personality, an artistic temperament, in the shape of words. But this disposition does not always manifest itself with the exactitude of clocks; it is often capricious and pertains to various exterior and psychic causes. First of all, the artist needs an absolute material self-sufficiency which may lead him away from all common employments that kill or weaken the most beautiful forces of talent. Not all poets are born rich like Alecsandri; and since in our country literature has not yet come to live off public support, it is only natural that one often sees talented poets abducted by political journalism or the glitter of other jobs which provide them with the means of existence..." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13765143 | 2,135,426 |
1,667,962 | In 1976, Dharma Realm Buddhist University was formally established at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, with the very first class arriving in 1977. The first Chancellor was Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. Other founding members include Bhikshuni Heng Hsien and Professor Ron Epstein. From 1977 to 1984, DRBU operated with the authorization status given by the California Postsecondary Education Commission. In 1976, the Institute of World Religions was created by Hsuan Hua and Paul Cardinal Yu Bin. In 1984, DRBU attained Approval to Operate as a California Degree-Granting Institution pursuant to the California Education Code, Section 94310 [c] and is currently approved to operate under the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE). In 1986, DRBU hosted the Conference on World Religions for the first time in California. In 1994, the Institute of World Religions moved to Berkeley Buddhist Monastery. In 1997, DRBU began its partnership with the Graduate Theological Union and Pacific School of Religion. In 2000, the Venerable Master Hua Memorial Lecture series began. In 2001, the Institute for World Religions published the inaugural issue of its academic journal, "Religion East & West". In 2006, DRBU established the Berkeley campus with Reverend Heng Sure, Ph.D., as its first director. In 2011, DRBU launched the university blog, dharmas. In 2013, DRBU began its two new programs, BA in Liberal Arts and MA in Buddhist Classics, both approved by the California Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE); from 2013 to 2015, DRBU phased out its six existing BPPE-approved degree programs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39225718 | 1,667,023 |
775,274 | The rival hypothesis, that the 1789 outbreak was introduced to Australia by visitors from Makassar, came to prominence in 2002, with Judy Campbell's book "Invisible Invaders". Campbell expanded upon the opinion of C. C. Macknight (1986), an authority on the interaction between indigenous Australians and Makassans. Citing the scientific opinion of Fenner (who wrote the foreword to her book) and historical documents, Campbell argued that the 1789 outbreak was introduced to Australia by Makassans, from where it spread overland. Nevertheless, Michael Bennett in a 2009 article in "Bulletin of the History of Medicine", argued that imported "variolous matter" may have been the source of the 1789 epidemic in Australia. In 2011, Macknight re-entered the debate, declaring: "The overwhelming probability must be that it [smallpox] was introduced, like the later epidemics, by [Makassan] trepangers on the north coast and spread across the continent to arrive in Sydney quite independently of the new settlement there". Warren (2013) disputed this, on the grounds that: there was no suitable smallpox in Makassar before 1789; there were no trade routes suitable for transmission to Port Jackson; the theory of a Makassan source for smallpox in 1789 was contradicted by Aboriginal oral tradition; and, the earliest point at which there was evidence of smallpox entering Australia with Makassan visitors was around 1824. Public health expert Mark Wenitong, a Kabi Kabi man, and John Maynard, Emeritus professor of Aboriginal History at the University of Newcastle agree that this is highly unlikely, with the added obstacle of very low population density between the north coast and Sydney Cove. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20790125 | 774,858 |
1,885,650 | B. Brett Finlay, (born 4 April 1959) is a Canadian microbiologist well known for his contributions to understanding how microbes cause disease in people and developing new tools for fighting infections, as well as the role the microbiota plays in human health and disease. Science.ca describes him as one of the world's foremost experts on the molecular understanding of the ways bacteria infect their hosts. He also led the SARS Accelerated Vaccine Initiative (SAVI) and developed vaccines to SARS and a bovine vaccine to E. coli O157:H7. His current research interests focus on pathogenic E. coli and Salmonella pathogenicity, and the role of the microbiota in infections, asthma, and malnutrition. He is currently the UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor and a Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories, Microbiology and Immunology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Co-director and Senior Fellow for the CIFAR Humans and Microbes program. He is also co-author of the book "Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World" and "The Whole-Body Microbiome: How to Harness Microbes - Inside and Out - For Lifelong Health". Finlay is the author of over 500 publications in peer-reviewed journals and served as editor of several professional publications for many years. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52192870 | 1,884,569 |
1,178,132 | For her, social justice is the essential element needed to banish fear and bring peace. Justice means freedom from oppression, but it also implies equality for all. "In God's eyes," she writes, "all creatures have value and are subjects of equal care and love; similarly, in a society of justice and peace, all people matter equally." Franklin suggests that in consumer-oriented societies, war and violence are the inevitable result of an acquisitive lifestyle that rejects caring and social justice. She quotes historian Lewis Mumford's observation that during the rise of capitalism, the sins of greed, gluttony, avarice, envy and luxury became cardinal virtues. Mumford goes on to argue that the "moral change that took place under capitalism can be summed up in the fact that human purposes, human needs, and human limits no longer exercised a directing and restraining influence upon industry: people worked, not to maintain life, but to increase money and power and to minister to the ego that found satisfaction in vast accumulations of money and power." Franklin extends Mumford's argument by pointing to new global realities such as militarized economies dependent on weapons production and national borders increasingly closed to refugees. "Any modern theology of peace," she writes, "must, I think, take into account the worldwide drift towards 'techno-fascism,' the anti-people, anti-justice form of global management and power sharing that is developing around the world." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1094203 | 1,177,508 |
1,948,702 | The Helios Micrometeoroid Analyzer was the in situ instrument to analyze the composition of cosmic dust. In 1974 the instrument was carried by the Helios spacecraft inside the Earth's orbit down to 0.3 AU from the sun. The goal of the Micrometeoroid Analyzer was to determine the spatial distribution of the dust in the inner planetary system, and to search for variations of the compositional and physical properties of micrometeoroids. The instrument consisted of two impact ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometers (Ecliptic and South sensor) of total ~0.01 m target area. One sensor was shielded by the spacecraft rim from direct sun light, whereas the other sensor was protected by a thin aluminized parylene film from intense solar radiation. The Helios micrometeoroid analyzers were calibrated with a wide range of materials at the dust accelerators of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg and of the Ames Research Center, ARC, in Moffet Field. The mass resolution of the mass spectra of the Helios sensors was low formula_1 ~ 10. There was an excess of impacts recorded by the South sensor over the impacts on the Ecliptic sensor. On the basis of the penetration studies with the Helios film this excess was interpreted to be due to low density, formula_2 < 1000 kg/m meteoroids that were shielded from entering the Ecliptic sensor. Helios mass spectra range from those with dominant low masses up to 30 u that are compatible with silicates to those with dominant high masses between 50 and 60 u of iron and molecular ion types. Meteoroid streams and even interstellar dust particles were identified in the data. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=70739650 | 1,947,584 |
1,579,749 | Jasmonic acid (JA) is a plant hormone that increases in concentration in response to insect herbivore damage. The rise in JA induces the production of proteins functioning in plant defenses. JA also induces the transcription of multiple genes coding for key enzymes of the major pathways for secondary metabolites. Its structure and synthesis show parallels to oxylipins, which function in inflammatory responses. JA is synthesized by the octadecanoid pathway, which is activated in response to wound-induced signals. It is a derivative of the most rich fatty acid in the lipids of leaf membranes, alpha-linolenic acid. When plants experience mechanical wounding or herbivory, JA is synthesized "de novo" and induces genome-wide changes in gene expression. JA travels through plants via the phloem, and accumulates in vascular tissue. JA acts as an intracellular signal in order to promote responses in distal tissues. The perception of jasmonate in distal responding leaves is necessary for recognition of the transmissible signal that coordinates responses to wounding stress. JA mutants, which lack the gene encoding jasmonic acid, are killed by insect herbivore damage that would otherwise not harm normal-type plants. Upon the application of JA to the same mutants, resistance is restored. Signaling agents such as ethylene, methyl salicylate, and salicylic acid can pair with JA and enhance JA responses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60758292 | 1,578,859 |
1,439,496 | While adoption of affinity selection-mass spectrometry (AS-MS) has led to an expansion of assay formats, the general technique follows a simple scheme. Protein targets are incubated with small molecules to allow for the formation of stable ligand-protein complexes, unbound small molecules are removed from the mixture, and the components of remaining ligand-protein complexes are analyzed using mass spectrometry. The bound ligands identified are then categorized as hits and can be used to provide a starting point for lead generation. Since AS-MS measures binding in an unbiased manner, a hit does not need to be tied to a functional readout, opening the possibility of identifying drugs that act beyond active sites, such as allosteric modulators and chemical chaperones, all in a single assay. Because small molecules can be directly identified by their exact mass, no derivatization is needed to confirm the validity of a hit. Among derivatization- and label-free approaches, AS-MS has the unique advantage of being amenable to the assessment of multiple test compounds per experiment—as many as 20,000 compounds per experiment have been reported in the literature, and one group has reported assaying chemical libraries against heterogeneous protein pools. The basic steps of AS-MS are described in more detail below. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48999251 | 1,438,686 |
1,083,247 | During the Battle of Britain, the Bf 109's chief disadvantage was its short range: like most of the 1930s monoplane interceptors, it was designed to engage enemy bombers over friendly territory, and the range and endurance necessary for escorting long-ranged bombers over enemy territory was not required. The Bf 109E escorts used during the Battle had a limited fuel capacity resulting in only a 660 km (410 mile) maximum range solely on internal fuel, and when they arrived over a British target, had only 10 minutes of flying time before turning for home, leaving the bombers undefended by fighter escorts. Its eventual stablemate, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190A, was only flying in prototype form in the summer of 1940; the first 28 Fw 190s were not delivered until November 1940. The Fw 190A-1 had a maximum range of 940 km (584 miles) on internal fuel, 40% greater than the Bf 109E. The Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7 corrected this deficiency by adding a ventral center-line ordnance rack to take either an SC 250 bomb or a standard 300 litre Luftwaffe drop tank to double the range to 1,325 km (820 mi). The ordnance rack was not retrofitted to earlier Bf 109Es until October 1940. The Spitfire and Hurricane, designed with similar operational requirements in mind, had a tactical advantage as they were operating virtually over their home airfields as interceptors, and thus being able to remain longer in the combat area. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24239523 | 1,082,690 |
289,742 | To counter or mitigate an A.I. achieving unified technological global supremacy, Bostrom cites revisiting the Baruch Plan in support of a treaty-based solution and advocates strategies like monitoring and greater international collaboration between A.I. teams in order to improve safety and reduce the risks from the A.I. arms race. He recommends various control methods, including limiting the specifications of A.I.s to e.g., oracular or tool-like (expert system) functions and loading the A.I. with values, for instance by associative value accretion or value learning, e.g., by using the Hail Mary technique (programming an A.I. to estimate what other postulated cosmological superintelligences might want) or the Christiano utility function approach (mathematically defined human mind combined with well specified virtual environment). To choose criteria for value loading, Bostrom adopts an indirect normativity approach and considers Yudkowsky's coherent extrapolated volition concept, as well as moral rightness and forms of decision theory. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=408292 | 289,585 |
941,531 | Glass containers are 100% inspected; automatic machines, or sometimes persons, inspect every container for a variety of faults. Typical faults include small cracks in the glass called "checks" and foreign inclusions called "stones" which are pieces of the refractory brick lining of the melting furnace that break off and fall into the pool of molten glass, or more commonly oversized silica granules (sand) that have failed to melt and which subsequently are included in the final product. These are especially important to select out due to the fact that they can impart a destructive element to the final glass product. For example, since these materials can withstand large amounts of thermal energy, they can cause the glass product to sustain thermal shock resulting in explosive destruction when heated. Other defects include bubbles in the glass called "blisters" and excessively thin walls. Another defect common in glass manufacturing is referred to as a "tear". In the "press and blow" forming, if a plunger and mould are out of alignment, or heated to an incorrect temperature, the glass will stick to either item and become torn. In addition to rejecting faulty containers, inspection equipment gathers statistical information and relays it to the forming machine operators in the hot end. Computer systems collect fault information and trace it to the mould that produced the container. This is done by reading the mould number on the container, which is encoded (as a numeral, or a binary code of dots) on the container by the mould that made it. Operators carry out a range of checks manually on samples of containers, usually visual and dimensional checks. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14730177 | 941,029 |
410,222 | Specifying a Bayesian network meta-analysis model involves writing a directed acyclic graph (DAG) model for general-purpose Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) software such as WinBUGS. In addition, prior distributions have to be specified for a number of the parameters, and the data have to be supplied in a specific format. Together, the DAG, priors, and data form a Bayesian hierarchical model. To complicate matters further, because of the nature of MCMC estimation, overdispersed starting values have to be chosen for a number of independent chains so that convergence can be assessed. Recently, multiple R software packages were developed to simplify the model fitting (e.g., "metaBMA" and "RoBMA") and even implemented in statistical software with graphical user interface (GUI): JASP. Although the complexity of the Bayesian approach limits usage of this methodology, recent tutorial papers are trying to increase accessibility of the methods. Methodology for automation of this method has been suggested but requires that arm-level outcome data are available, and this is usually unavailable. Great claims are sometimes made for the inherent ability of the Bayesian framework to handle network meta-analysis and its greater flexibility. However, this choice of implementation of framework for inference, Bayesian or frequentist, may be less important than other choices regarding the modeling of effects (see discussion on models above). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62329 | 410,020 |
2,812 | Although many attend regular education classes, some children with AS may attend special education classes such as separate classroom and resource room because of their social and behavioral difficulties. Adolescents with AS may exhibit ongoing difficulty with self-care or organization, and disturbances in social and romantic relationships. Despite high cognitive potential, most young adults with AS remain at home, yet some do marry and work independently. The "different-ness" adolescents experience can be traumatic. Anxiety may stem from preoccupation over possible violations of routines and rituals, from being placed in a situation without a clear schedule or expectations, or from concern with failing in social encounters; the resulting stress may manifest as inattention, withdrawal, reliance on obsessions, hyperactivity, or aggressive or oppositional behavior. Depression is often the result of chronic frustration from repeated failure to engage others socially, and mood disorders requiring treatment may develop. Clinical experience suggests the rate of suicide may be higher among those with AS, but this has not been confirmed by systematic empirical studies. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37556 | 2,812 |
634,280 | Rao was first influenced by a science kit her uncle gave to her when she was 4 years old. When she was 10, Rao heard about the Flint water crisis while watching the news and became interested in ways to measure the lead content in water. This led to her using App Inventor to develop a device called Tethys based on carbon nanotubes that could send water quality information via Bluetooth. Rao collaborated with a research scientist at 3M. In 2017, Rao won the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge and was awarded $25,000 for her invention, Tethys. Tethys contains a 9-volt battery, a lead sensing unit, a Bluetooth extension and a processor. It uses carbon nanotubes, whose resistance changes in the presence of lead. She learned about the carbon nanotubes while reading the Massachusetts Institute of Technology website. She plans to work with scientists and medical professionals to investigate the potential of Tethys as a viable method. She presented her idea at the 2018 MAKERS conference and raised a further $25,000. As of January 2019, she was working with the Denver water facility and hopes to have a prototype in the next two years. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=58862100 | 633,942 |
599,459 | There have been multiple theories as to why bipedalism was favored, thus leading to skeletal changes that aided the upward gait. The Savannah Hypothesis describes how the transition from arboreal habits to a savannah lifestyle favored an upright, bipedal gait. This would also change the diet of hominins, more specifically a shift from primarily plant-based to a higher protein, meat-based diet. This would eventually increase the size of the brain, changing the skeletal structure of the skull. Transitions from the forests to the savannah meant that sunlight and heat would require major changes in lifestyle. Being a biped on an open field is also an advantage because of heat dispersal. Walking upright reduces the amount of direct sun exposure and radiation in comparison to being a quadruped which have more body surface on top for the sun to hit. Increased capabilities of postural/locomotor neural control is hypothesis suggesting that the transition from quadrupedal to habitual upright bipedal locomotion was caused by qualitative changes in the nervous system that allowed controlling the more demanding type of posture/locomotion. Only after the more demanding posture was enabled by changes in the nervous system, could advantages of bipedal over quadrupedal locomotion be utilized, including better scanning of the environment, carrying food and infants, simultaneous upper extremity movements and observation of the environment, limitless manipulation of objects with upper extremities, and less space for rotating around the Z-axis. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16731978 | 599,153 |
1,643,124 | Alec Rodriguez praised the book's writing in a "Yale Scientific" article, approving of the conciseness and yet approachable technical detail that is included in the book while still remaining smooth in its flow between subjects. Rodriguez concluded that the book also "leaves the reader optimistic" in regards to future scientific advancements and the usage of Pleistocene Park. "Times Higher Education"'s Tiffany Taylor considered the work a "thought-provoking book [that] offers excitement and wonder" and that, through Shapiro's writing and direct discussion, the book manages to "paint a scientifically accurate yet magical world where Pleistocene giants might roam the Arctic tundra once again, and where we have the chance to undo some past mistakes". A review in "Publishers Weekly" applauded the book's attempt to state plainly the science involved and determined that readers will "emerge with the ability to think more deeply about the facts of de-extinction and cloning at a time when hyperbolic and emotionally manipulative claims about such scientific breakthroughs are all too common". Kent H. Redford in the journal "Oryx" recommended that others read the book, adding that it "will make everyone think, will make some mad, others inspired, and hopefully will educate all conservationists to the extraordinary potential opportunities, good and bad, that de-extinction presents". In "The Quarterly Review of Biology", Derek D. Turner called the writing "careful, accessible, and thoughtful", while also pointing out that the book as a whole "conveys a sense of excitement about the science, but without the uncritical techno-optimism that one sees in many popular articles". Philip J. Seddon in an article for the journal "Trends in Ecology and Evolution" described the book as an "important contribution to the ongoing debate" by how it changed the focus on what de-extinction is about to "ecological resurrection, and not species resurrection". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49960377 | 1,642,197 |
1,244,518 | During World War I and World War II, military engineers built roads, bridges, railroads, ports, fortifications, trenches, and depots in battlefield situations. These engineers emerged as important factors in warfare both on the front lines and behind those lines. Speed became a significant factor in these times of war because of the advancements in equipment and artillery on both ally and enemy lines. The task of building infrastructure in a timely manner became more important as new warfare strategies emerged and mobility became a more dangerous task to maintain. One well-noted example of military engineering during World War II was the construction of a supply road from Ledo, India to the Burma Road in 1944 by Allied forces at a point where the road was still in Chinese territory. This road, opened in 1945, was 478 miles long, and twisted through mountains, swamps, wetlands, and jungles. Some of the most famous projects in American military engineering history were the various facilities used to house the Manhattan Project in the construction of America’s first atomic bombs. Innovative equipment, including armored engineering vehicles that had to be capable of navigating ashore from landing craft, was developed for the allied forces’ amphibious operations. These types of new inventions aided troops in an intricate, complex war fought on land, by sea, and by air. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34754607 | 1,243,845 |
780,674 | The AW189 is a medium-sized twin-engined helicopter with a five-bladed fully articulated main rotor, a four-bladed tail rotor and a retractable tricycle landing gear. It is powered by two General Electric CT7-2E1 turboshaft engines. AgustaWestland refer to the AW189 as being a "super-medium class" helicopter, emphasizing its suitability for long-range operations. During development, the AW189 was designed to comply with the latest international regulatory safety requirements EASA/FAA Part 29, JAR OPS 3/EU-OPS. Of particular importance to the type's use for offshore operations, such as search and rescue and services to the oil and gas industries, the main gearbox has been designed to provide for a 50-minute run-dry capacity, in excess of requirements and a unique feature to the AW189. Aspects of the AW189 are deliberately similar to the AW139 and AW169; these helicopters share similar flight performance characteristics, safety features, and design philosophies. Areas of the aircraft's operation, such as maintenance and the layout of the cockpit, also continue this concept, which reportedly makes operations more cost effective. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32199250 | 780,256 |
426,738 | The possibility of coiled coils for α-keratin was initially somewhat controversial. Linus Pauling and Francis Crick independently came to the conclusion that this was possible at about the same time. In the summer of 1952, Pauling visited the laboratory in England where Crick worked. Pauling and Crick met and spoke about various topics; at one point, Crick asked whether Pauling had considered "coiled coils" (Crick came up with the term), to which Pauling said he had. Upon returning to the United States, Pauling resumed research on the topic. He concluded that coiled coils exist, and submitted a lengthy manuscript to the journal "Nature" in October. Pauling's son Peter Pauling worked at the same lab as Crick, and mentioned the report to him. Crick believed that Pauling had stolen his idea, and submitted a shorter note to "Nature" a few days after Pauling's manuscript arrived. Eventually, after some controversy and frequent correspondences, Crick's lab declared that the idea had been reached independently by both researchers, and that no intellectual theft had occurred. In his note (which was published first due to its shorter length), Crick proposed the Coiled Coil and as well as mathematical methods for determining their structure. Remarkably, this was soon after the structure of the alpha helix was suggested in 1951 by Linus Pauling and coworkers. These studies were published in the absence of knowledge of a keratin sequence. The first keratin sequences were determined by Hanukoglu and Fuchs in 1982. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=917564 | 426,529 |
1,317,559 | In 1981, the United States Secretary of State Alexander Haig and his successor George P. Shultz accused the Soviet Union of using T-2 mycotoxin as a chemical weapon known as "yellow rain" in Laos (1975–81), Kampuchea (1979–81), and Afghanistan (1979–81), where it allegedly caused thousands of casualties. Although several US chemical weapons experts claim to have identified "yellow rain" samples from Laos as trichothecenes, other experts believe that this exposure was due to naturally occurring T-2 mycotoxin in contaminated foods. Another alternative theory was developed by Harvard biologist Matthew Meselson, who proposed that the "yellow rain" found in Southeast Asia originated from the excrement of jungle bees. The first indication for this theory came from finding high levels of pollen in the collected samples, giving the substance its yellow color. It was also found that jungle bees in this area fly collectively in great numbers, at altitudes too high to be easily seen, producing showers of feces that could have been mistaken for sprays from aircraft. Further testing later determined that the oily liquid was, in fact, the pollen-filled feces of jungle bees. A similar case in China was brought to light, and in this instance the cause of the phenomenon had also been bee excrement. Despite this conclusive analysis, the United States has not withdrawn its allegations and declares that the issue has not been fully resolved. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1333512 | 1,316,834 |
1,220,696 | Astraeus hygrometricus, commonly known as the hygroscopic earthstar, the barometer earthstar, or the false earthstar, is a species of fungus in the family Diplocystaceae. Young specimens resemble a puffball when unopened. In maturity, the mushroom displays the characteristic earthstar shape that is a result of the outer layer of fruit body tissue splitting open in a star-like manner. The false earthstar is an ectomycorrhizal species that grows in association with various trees, especially in sandy soils. "A. hygrometricus" was previously thought to have a cosmopolitan distribution, though it is now thought to be restricted to Southern Europe, and "Astraeus" are common in temperate and tropical regions. Its common names refer to the fact that it is hygroscopic (water-absorbing), and can open up its rays to expose the spore sac in response to increased humidity, and close them up again in drier conditions. The rays have an irregularly cracked surface, while the spore case is pale brown and smooth with an irregular slit or tear at the top. The gleba is white initially, but turns brown and powdery when the spores mature. The spores are reddish-brown, roughly spherical with minute warts, measuring 7.5–11 micrometers in diameter. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23316558 | 1,220,041 |
385,984 | The largest accumulations of naturally occurring sodium nitrate are found in Chile and Peru, where nitrate salts are bound within mineral deposits called caliche ore. Nitrates accumulate on land through marine-fog precipitation and sea-spray oxidation/desiccation followed by gravitational settling of airborne NaNO, KNO, NaCl, NaSO, and I, in the hot-dry desert atmosphere. El Niño/La Niña extreme aridity/torrential rain cycles favor nitrates accumulation through both aridity and water solution/remobilization/transportation onto slopes and into basins; capillary solution movement forms layers of nitrates; pure nitrate forms rare veins. For more than a century, the world supply of the compound was mined almost exclusively from the Atacama desert in northern Chile until, at the turn of the 20th century, German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed a process for producing ammonia from the atmosphere on an industrial scale (see Haber process). With the onset of World War I, Germany began converting ammonia from this process into a synthetic "Chilean saltpeter", which was as practical as the natural compound in production of gunpowder and other munitions. By the 1940s, this conversion process resulted in a dramatic decline in demand for sodium nitrate procured from natural sources. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=200310 | 385,789 |
1,548,614 | The role of the SA ambassadors was that of "quasi-"Reich" governors" as they aggressively supervised the internal affairs of the nations they were stationed in, making them very much unlike traditional ambassadors. The aristocratic professional diplomats who dominated the "Auswärtiges Amt" saw the SA ambassadors as "outsiders", the disparaging term used by the professional diplomats to describe anyone who was not part of their clique. The German historian Daniel Siemans wrote that it was significant that four of the five SA ambassadors had served as policemen in their careers, suggesting it was their ability to impose their will on others as police chiefs that led them for them being appointed as ambassadors. From the viewpoint of Berlin, southeast Europe was viewed as the "ergänzungsraum" ("complementary space") to the "lebensraum" ("living space") in Eastern Europe. Unlike the "lebensraum", which was to be colonised with millions of German settlers while the indigenous peoples living there would be exterminated, expelled or enslaved, the "ergänzungsraum" were seen as a source of food, raw materials and manpower that would assist the "Reich" in its quest for "world power status". Because the states in the "ergänzungsraum" were not to be colonised, the role of these states were seen as essentially protectorates of Germany that would be allowed a nominal independence as long as they played their role in the "New Order in Europe". Those who knew him reported that Jagow was "deeply unhappy" about serving as a diplomat as he much preferred to be fighting in the war. Hungary was a society dominated by the Magyar nobility who owned most of the land and generally held almost all of the high offices of the Hungarian state. It was felt that Jagow as a nobleman was the best man to talk to the Magyar aristocracy, who would have resented it if the German minister was a commoner. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=65256855 | 1,547,733 |
1,433,657 | Maths B is considerably more theoretical than Maths A, requiring advanced algebra skills to successfully complete. It is a common prerequisite for science and engineering courses at Queensland Universities. Maths B (in some schools) can be studied at the same time with either Maths A or Maths C, but not both. Maths B gives students an understanding of the methods and principles of mathematics and the ability to apply them in everyday situations and in purely mathematical contexts; the capacity to model actual situations and deduce properties from the model; an interest and ability in framing and testing mathematical hypotheses; the ability to express and communicate any results obtained; some knowledge of the history of mathematics; encouragement to think independently and creatively. Assessments are similar as those of Maths A, which includes both formative (Semester 1) and summative (Semesters 2,3 and 4) written tests, assignments and post-assignment tests. It is also assessed in the three categories Knowledge & Procedures (KAP); Modelling & Problem Solving (MAP); Communication & Justification (CAJ). Maths B is a pre-requisite for any tertiary course which deals with or uses math and/or science. According to the Queensland Studies Authority, in 2010, 93% of students who studied Maths B were OP eligible. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5570773 | 1,432,853 |
1,002,115 | The Polish "Golden Age", the period of the reigns of Sigismund I and Sigismund II, the last two Jagiellonian kings, or more generally the 16th century, is most often identified with the rise of the culture of Polish Renaissance. The cultural flowering had its material base in the prosperity of the elites, both the landed nobility and urban patriciate at such centers as Kraków and Gdańsk. As was the case with other European nations, the Renaissance inspiration came in the first place from Italy, a process accelerated to some degree by the marriage of Sigismund I to Bona Sforza. Many Poles traveled to Italy to study and to learn its culture. As imitating Italian ways became very trendy (the royal courts of the two kings provided the leadership and example for everybody else), many Italian artists and thinkers were coming to Poland, some settling and working there for many years. While the pioneering Polish humanists, greatly influenced by Erasmus of Rotterdam, accomplished the preliminary assimilation of the antiquity culture, the generation that followed was able to put greater emphasis on the development of native elements, and because of its social diversity, advanced the process of national integration. The Academy of Kraków and Sigismund II possessed well-stocked libraries; smaller collections were increasingly common at noble courts, schools and the households of townspeople. Illiteracy levels were falling, as by the end of the 16th century almost every parish ran a school. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34960337 | 1,001,597 |
803,126 | The 40 by 80 foot wind tunnel circuit was originally constructed in the 1940s and is now capable of providing test velocities up to . It is used to support an active research program in aerodynamics, dynamics, model noise, and full-scale aircraft and their components. The aerodynamic characteristics of new configurations are investigated with an emphasis on estimating the accuracy of computational methods. The tunnel is also used to investigate the aeromechanical stability boundaries of advanced rotorcraft and rotor-fuselage interactions. Stability and control derivatives are also determined, including the static and dynamic characteristics of new aircraft configurations. The acoustic characteristics of most of the full-scale vehicles are also determined, as well as acoustic research aimed at discovering and reducing aerodynamic sources of noise. In addition to the normal data gathering methods (e.g., balance system, pressure measuring transducers, and temperature sensing thermocouples), state-of-the-art, non-intrusive instrumentation (e.g., laser velocimeters and shadowgraphs) are available to help determine flow direction and velocity in and around the lifting surfaces of aircraft. The 40 by 80 Foot Wind Tunnel is primarily used for determining the low- and medium-speed aerodynamic characteristics of high-performance aircraft, rotorcraft, and fixed wing, powered-lift V/STOL aircraft. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=47477 | 802,697 |
1,483,494 | Raichur is privileged of being an oldest establishment for agricultural research in 1932 an Agricultural Research Station was established by the then Nizam’s Government of Hyderabad with a mandate to carryout research on dry land farming. After the reorganization of states in the country, Raichur was identified as the main research station for oilseeds. With the establishment of State Agricultural University in Karnataka in 1964 at Bangalore, it was elevated to Regional Research Station with a jurisdiction of five districts of Northern Karnataka. Agricultural Engineering Institute (AEI) was added to Raichur campus in 1969 to offer diploma course in Agri-Engineering which, in 1987, was upgraded to the status of College of Agricultural Engineering with up-gradation of Diploma to B.Tech degree. In 1984 and 2000, Colleges of Agriculture were started functioning, one at Raichur and the other at Bheemarayanagudi (Shahapur Taluk of Kalaburgi District) respectively, with an intake capacity of 30 students. However, with establishment of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad during 1986, Raichur became the component campus under UAS, Dharwad. Intriguingly, Raichur continued its privilege of being the second largest campus and a major hub of education under UAS, Dharwad. The Post-graduate degree program leading to Master’s degree in eight departments was started in 1995 with an intake capacity of five students for each department every year. In 1994, Krishi Vigyana Kendra (KVK), a component of UAS, Dharwad but funded and monitored by ICAR, started functioning in the campus and received the best Krishi Vigyan Kendra National Award for the year 2007-08, thus completing all the necessities of Teaching, Research and Extension. During 2008-09 and 2009–10, PG program began in other departments, thus making a total of 13 departments offering Post Graduate program at the campus level. The Raichur campus has registered significant growth in last decade reaching newer heights in education, research and extension. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37067936 | 1,482,658 |
677,480 | In the "Experimenta Nova", Book III, Chapter 20, von Guericke reports on a barometer he had constructed and its application to weather forecasting. The earliest reference to his barometer is in a letter to Fr. Schott of November 1661 ("Technica Curiosa", p. 37) where he writes: "I have observed the variation in the weight of the air by using a little man (i.e. a statue in the form of one) who hangs from a wall in my hypocaust where it floats on air in a glass tube and uses a finger to show the weight or lightness of the air. At the same time it indicates whether or not it is raining in nearby localities or whether there is unusually stormy weather at sea." In a subsequent letter of December 30, 1661 ("Technica Curiosa" p. 52) he gives a somewhat amplified account. His barometer thus prepared the way for meteorology. His later works focused on electricity. He invented the "Elektrisiermaschine", a version of which is illustrated in the engraving by Hubert-François Gravelot, c. 1750. This device, which is usually identified as the first electrostatic generator, was developed as part of von Guericke's interest in the worldly powers ("mundane virtues") that operated in the universe. Von Guericke also showed that electrical (magnetic) attraction does not require a medium to operate in by an experiment using electrical transmission through linen thread. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49828 | 677,127 |
1,200,042 | The American University of Afghanistan currently offers four-year undergraduate degree programs in business administration with concentrations in management, accounting, finance and marketing, information technology and computer science, and political science and public administration. Through required general studies in their first two years of undergraduate study, all students acquire knowledge in English composition, mathematics, the natural sciences, arts and humanities, and the social sciences. The department of Business provides students with theories and concepts related to international, world-class business practices, and seeks to graduate students who will be competitive in domestic and international firms. Students gain in-depth knowledge of information systems, software design, development and scientific approaches in ITCS. A combination of political science and public administration exposes students to the subfields of political science in addition to field of public administration. The law program provides in-depth exposure to all major areas of law. Graduates will be qualified to enter the court system, private legal practice, government and business. To graduate from the Undergraduate Program, students must complete a total of 120 credits, from both General Education and Major-specific requirements. AUAF held its sixth commencement ceremony of class 2015, on May 22, 2015. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5229461 | 1,199,401 |
743,822 | In March 1982, designers began working on a W80 variant intended for the Navy's Tomahawk program. The W80 mod 0 (W80-0) used "supergrade" fission fuel, which has less radioactivity, in the primary in place of the conventional plutonium used in the Air Force's version. "Supergrade" is industry parlance for plutonium alloy bearing an exceptionally high fraction of Pu-239 (>95%), leaving a very low amount of Pu-240 which is a gamma emitter in addition to being a high spontaneous fission isotope. Such plutonium is produced from fuel rods that have been irradiated a very short time as measured in MW-Day/Ton burnup. Such low irradiation times limit the amount of additional neutron capture and therefore buildup of alternate isotope products such as Pu-240 in the rod, and also by consequence is considerably more expensive to produce, needing far more rods irradiated and processed for a given amount of plutonium. Submarine crew members routinely operate in proximity to stored weapons in torpedo rooms, in contrast to the air force where exposure to warheads is relatively brief. The first models were delivered in December 1983 and the Mod 0 went into full production in March 1984. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2237316 | 743,428 |
228,478 | As previously mentioned, RA can affect people's memories in different degrees, but testing is required to help determine if someone is experiencing RA. Several tests exist, for example, testing for factual knowledge such as known public events. A problem with this form of testing is that people generally differ in their knowledge of such subjects. The tests also have to be changed regularly to adapt to the period of time patients have been alive, and include questions about autobiographical events that range in amount of detail. Due to the nature of the information being tested, it is often difficult to verify the accuracy of the memories being recalled, especially if they are from a distant past. One way to confirm information is by consulting close family members or caregivers. Another problem that arises is that this type of testing can result in a significant amount of data that needs to be processed and confirmed. Other ways to test someone is via autobiographical knowledge using the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI). A test that comprises names of relatives, personal information, and job history. The AMI was created by Kopelman, Wilson, and Baddeley (1990). This information could help determine if someone is experiencing RA and the degree of memory affected. Some researchers have found that the time interval after the head injury occurred did not seem to matter. The effect of the memory loss was the same no matter how long it had been after from the injury. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1042651 | 228,361 |
1,712,189 | Simulations for Great Britain and the United States show that mitigation (slowing but not stopping epidemic spread) and suppression (reversing epidemic growth) have major challenges. Optimal mitigation policies might reduce peak healthcare demand by two-thirds and deaths by half, but still result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and overwhelmed health systems. Suppression can be preferred but needs to be maintained for as long as the virus is circulating in the human population (or until a vaccine becomes available), as transmission otherwise quickly rebounds when measures are relaxed. Until now, the evidence for public health (nonpharmaceutical) interventions such as social distancing, school closure, and case isolation comes mainly from epidemiological compartmental models and, in particular, agent-based models (ABMs). Such models have been criticized for being based on simplifying and unrealistic assumptions. Still, they can be useful in informing decisions regarding mitigation and suppression measures in cases when ABMs are accurately calibrated. An Argentinian modelling study asserted that complete lockdowns and healthcare system overextension could be avoided if 45 percent of asymptomatic patients were detected and isolated. Long-term intervention to suppress the pandemic has considerable social and economic costs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=65339945 | 1,711,224 |
1,920,722 | Cope described the next piece of the puzzle in 1874: a more complete jaw fragment in 1874 he named "Cionodon arctatus", which revealed for the first time the complex hadrosaur tooth battery. However, the first essentially complete hadrosaur skull was not described until 1883. It was part of a skeleton (the first essentially complete hadrosaur skeleton as well) collected in 1882 by Dr. J. L. Wortman and R. S. Hill for Cope. Described as a specimen of "Diclonius mirabilis", it is now known as "Edmontosaurus". Cope immediately drew attention to the anterior part of the skull, which was drawn out, long, and wide. He compared it to that of a goose in side view, and to a short-billed spoonbill in top view. Additionally, he noted the presence of what he interpreted as the remnants of a dermal structure surrounding the beak. Significantly, Cope regarded his "Diclonius" as an amphibious animal consuming soft water vegetation. His reasoning was that the teeth of the lower jaw were weakly connected to the bone and liable to break off if used to consume terrestrial food, and he described the beak as weak as well. Unfortunately for Cope, aside from misidentifying several of the bones of the skull, by chance the lower jaws he was studying were missing the walls supporting the teeth from the inside; the teeth were actually well-supported. While Cope anticipated publishing a full report with illustrations, he never did so, and instead the first accurate illustrated description of a hadrosaur skull and skeleton would be produced by his great rival, Othniel Charles Marsh. While Marsh corrected several anatomical errors, he retained Cope's postulated diet of soft plants. The description of hadrosaurs as amphibious eaters of aquatic plants became so ingrained that when the first possible case of hadrosaur gut contents was described in 1922 and found to be made up of terrestrial plants, the author made a point of noting that the specimen only established that hadrosaurs could eat land plants as well as water plants. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23481302 | 1,919,619 |
934,241 | In Belgium, in 2016 and in response to a number of parliamentary questions, the Minister of Social Affairs and Health acknowledged that it is indeed not evident to treat phages as industrially-made drugs and therefore she proposed to investigate if the magistral preparation pathway could offer a solution. Magistral preparations (compounding pharmacies in the US) are not subjected to certain constraints such as GMP compliance and marketing authorization. As the "magistral preparation framework" was created to allow for adapted patient treatments and/or to use medicines for which there is no commercial interest, it seemed a suitable framework for precision phage therapy concepts. Magistral preparations are medicines prepared in a pharmacy in accordance with a medical prescription for an individual patient. They are made by a pharmacist (or under his/her supervision) from their constituent ingredients, according to the technical and scientific standards of pharmaceutical technology. Phage Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) to be included in magistral preparations must meet the requirements of a monograph, which describes their production and quality control testing. They must be accompanied by a certificate of analysis, issued by a "Belgian Approved Laboratory (BAL)", which has been granted an accreditation to perform batch release testing of medicinal products. Since 2019, phages are delivered in the form of magistral preparations to nominal patients in Belgium. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=682382 | 933,749 |
1,031,364 | The decision to purchase 60 fighters was due to be made by mid-2013. Emphasis was put on driving down costs, offsets, and technology transfer. Sources in South Korea said part of the focus of which aircraft to select was being heavily based on technology transfer for the indigenous KF-X aircraft program. The Department of Defense formally notified the U.S. Congress of potential sales of the F-35A Lightning II and F-15SE Silent Eagle on 29 March 2013. Lockheed was pleased that the formal Congressional notification process was under way, but noted that price discussions were "on-going." Boeing felt that the F-15SE was a better bid, as it was cheaper and offered commonality with current F-15K Slam Eagles. However, Boeing's bid was more complicated because it was both a direct commercial sale and government-to-government foreign military sale. The Eurofighter Typhoon was still an option, but it was likely that South Korea would choose to purchase American aircraft, as they had previously. In response, EADS offered to manufacture 48 out of 60 Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 3 fighters domestically in South Korea. Senior South Korean government officials claimed that the F-X Phase 3 competition was not aimed at defending against or striking North Korea, but for keeping pace with the fighter developments of its neighbors. With Japan's decision to buy the Lockheed F-35A, China's development of the Chengdu J-20, and Russia's work on the Sukhoi PAK FA, South Korea is in need of upgrading its fighter technology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40890966 | 1,030,828 |
1,466,685 | James Henry Breasted was born on August 27, 1865, the son of a small hardware business owner and his wife, in Rockford, Illinois. His ancestors went back to early colonial Dutch and English, with the family name Van Breestede. He was educated at local public schools before attending North Central College (then North-Western College). He graduated from there in 1888, and attended Chicago Theological Seminary, but transferred to Yale University to study Hebrew. He studied with William Rainey Harper, who had great influence on the teaching of the language. He received a master's degree from Yale in 1891. His mentor Harper had just accepted the presidency of the University of Chicago and encouraged Breasted to study at the University of Berlin for his doctorate, and then to join him in Chicago. Breasted studied the Egyptian language under the instruction of Adolf Erman. Erman had just established a new school of Egyptology, concentrating systematically on grammar and lexicography. Breasted received his doctorate in 1894, producing an edition of the sun hymns of El 'Amǎrneh period for his thesis. He was the first American citizen to obtain a PhD in Egyptology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=572601 | 1,465,862 |
1,247,271 | By an ingenious example of lateral thinking, she applied a similar method to make the first ever ‘observation’ of a neutron in nuclear emulsion. Being electrically neutral the neutron cannot, of course, be directly detected in a photographic emulsion, but if it strikes a proton in the emulsion, that recoiling proton can be detected. She used this method to determine the energy spectrum of neutrons resulting from specific nuclear reaction processes. She developed a method to determine proton energies by measuring the exposed grain density along their tracks (fast minimum ionising particles interact with fewer grains than slow particles). To record the long tracks of fast protons more accurately, she enlisted British film manufacturer Ilford (now Ilford Photo) to thicken the emulsion on its commercial plates, and she experimented with other emulsion parameters — grain size, latent image retention, development conditions — to improve the visibility of alpha-particle and fast-proton tracks. In 1937, Marietta Blau and her former student Hertha Wambacher discovered nuclear "disintegration stars (Zertrümmerungsterne)" due to spallation in nuclear emulsions that had been exposed to cosmic radiation at a height of 2300m on the Hafelekarspitze above Innsbruck. This discovery caused a sensation in the world of nuclear and cosmic ray physics, which brought the nuclear emulsion method to the attention of a wider audience. But the onset of political unrest in Austria and Germany, leading to World War II, brought a sudden halt to progress in that field of research for Marietta Blau. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9769489 | 1,246,596 |
1,576,733 | The period 1970–1990 brought continued growth to the campus. It was during these years that the university began to become proactive in helping businesses. In 1980, several researchers and graduate students who wished to start a company approached the administration and asked for a place to set up a small lab. The administration provided a basement in an old engineering building. Two weeks later, another start-up company made a similar request. It was at this point that the "H-building", which had previously been used for storage, became the home for the RPI incubator program, the first such program sponsored solely by a university. Shortly thereafter, RPI invested $3 million in pavement, water and power on around of land it owned south of campus. Now known as the Rensselaer Technology Park, companies may rent the land and collaborate with RPI students and researchers. As companies began to move in, the New York State government realized how the university was helping the local economy. This is one of the reasons legislation was passed to grant RPI $30 million to build the George M. Low Center for Industrial Innovation, a center for industry-sponsored research and development. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32133136 | 1,575,844 |
910,978 | The UK began establishing air and naval facilities in the Persian Gulf, located in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman in 2014–15. The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 highlighted a range of foreign policy initiatives of the UK government. Edward Longinotti notes how current British defence policy is grappling with how to accommodate two major commitments, to Europe and to an ‘east of Suez’ global military strategy, within a modest defence budget that can only fund one. He points out that Britain's December 2014 agreement to open a permanent naval base in Bahrain underlines its gradual re-commitment east of Suez. By some measures, Britain remains the second most powerful country in the world by virtue of its soft power and "logistical capability to deploy, support and sustain [military] forces overseas in large numbers." Although commentators have questioned the need for global power projection, the concept of “Global Britain” put forward by the Conservative government in 2019 signalled more military activity in the Middle East and Pacific, outside of NATO's traditional sphere of influence. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=31731 | 910,499 |
425,143 | Perhaps the most influential criticisms of P&P have been theory internal. As in any other developing field of enquiry, research published within the P&P paradigm often suggests reformulations and variations of the basic P&P premises. Notable debates emerged within P&P including (a) derivationalism vs representationalism (b) the locus of morphology (e.g. lexicalism vs derived morphology) and (c) the tension between a production model and a competence model amongst others. The development of head-driven phrase structure grammar (HPSG) and lexical functional grammar (LFG) reflect these debates: these are both strongly lexicalist and representational systems. Nevertheless, perhaps the most coherent and substantial critique of P&P is the Minimalist Program, Noam Chomsky's most recent proposal. This program of research utilizes conceptions of economy to enhance the search for universal principles and parameters. Linguists in this program assume that humans use as economic a system as possible in their innate syntactic knowledge. The Minimalist Program takes issue with the large number of independent postulations in P&P and either (a) reduces them to more fundamental principles (e.g. Merge, Move, Agree), (b) derives them from 'reasonable' interface constraints on derivations (e.g. bottom-up Merge and requirement that no derivation be counter-cyclic derives Relativized Minimality effects) or (c) programmatically suggests that they be either derived from more basic principles or eliminated subject to future research (e.g. Binding Principles). Note that there is debate about whether the Minimalist Program is motivated by the empirical shortcomings of P&P or whether it is motivated by ideological concerns with 'elegance' etc. (see main article on the Minimalist Program). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1710381 | 424,935 |
1,535,348 | The "ATP5F1A" gene, located on the q arm of chromosome 18 in position 21, is made up of 13 exons and is 20,090 base pairs in length. The ATP5F1A protein weighs 59.7 kDa and is composed of 553 amino acids. The protein is a subunit of the catalytic portion of the FF ATPase, also known as Complex V, which consists of 14 nuclear and 2 mitochondrial -encoded subunits. As an alpha subunit, ATP5F1A is contained within the catalytic F portion of the complex. The nomenclature of the enzyme has a long history. The F fraction derives its name from the term "Fraction 1" and F (written as a subscript letter "o", not "zero") derives its name from being the binding fraction for oligomycin, a type of naturally-derived antibiotic that is able to inhibit the F unit of ATP synthase. The F particle is large and can be seen in the transmission electron microscope by negative staining. These are particles of 9 nm diameter that pepper the inner mitochondrial membrane. They were originally called elementary particles and were thought to contain the entire respiratory apparatus of the mitochondrion, but, through a long series of experiments, Efraim Racker and his colleagues (who first isolated the F particle in 1961) were able to show that this particle is correlated with ATPase activity in uncoupled mitochondria and with the ATPase activity in submitochondrial particles created by exposing mitochondria to ultrasound. This ATPase activity was further associated with the creation of ATP by a long series of experiments in many laboratories. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14763133 | 1,534,480 |
44,918 | But Pasteur found that anthrax bacillus was not easily weakened by culturing in air as it formed spores – unlike chicken cholera bacillus. In early 1881, he discovered that growing anthrax bacilli at about 42 °C made them unable to produce spores, and he described this method in a speech to the French Academy of Sciences on 28 February. On 21 March, he announced successful vaccination of sheep. To this news, veterinarian Hippolyte Rossignol proposed that the Société d'agriculture de Melun organize an experiment to test Pasteur's vaccine. Pasteur signed agreement of the challenge on 28 April. A public experiment was conducted in May at Pouilly-le-Fort. 58 sheep, 2 goats and 10 cattle were used, half of which were given the vaccine on 5 and 17 May; while the other half was untreated. All the animals were injected with the fresh virulent culture of anthrax bacillus on 31 May. The official result was observed and analysed on 2 June in the presence of over 200 spectators. All cattle survived, vaccinated or not. Pasteur had bravely predicted: "I hypothesized that the six vaccinated cows would not become very ill, while the four unvaccinated cows would perish or at least become very ill." However, all vaccinated sheep and goats survived, while unvaccinated ones had died or were dying before the viewers. His report to the French Academy of Sciences on 13 June concludes:[By] looking at everything from the scientific point of view, the development of a vaccination against anthrax constitutes significant progress beyond the first vaccine developed by Jenner, since the latter had never been obtained experimentally.Pasteur did not directly disclose how he prepared the vaccines used at Pouilly-le-Fort. Although his report indicated it as a "live vaccine", his laboratory notebooks show that he actually used potassium dichromate-killed vaccine, as developed by Chamberland, quite similar to Toussaint's method. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=17740 | 44,901 |
1,142,689 | Another AUS model is the ZSI 375 (Zephyr Surgical Implants, Geneva, Switzerland), introduced in 2008. It is a one-piece two-part device with a cuff and a pump unit with an integrated spring; it comes in one piece, pre-connected and pre-filled. There is no abdominal component in the ZSI 375, which along with its ready-to-implant configuration reduces the operating time. Furthermore, because there is no abdominal component, surgical interventions in the retroperitoneal space are not required. Previous surgeries, such as radical prostatectomy, may lead to post-operative scarring and fibrosis in the retroperitoneal space. Thus, avoiding dissection of retroperitoneal tissues avoids risks of surgical complications. Another advantage of the ZSI 375 model is the possibility to increase or decrease the pressure inside the device after implantation to meet the desired continence rate and satisfaction of the patient. These adjustments particularly help to control continence in cases of post-implantation urethral atrophy or urinary retention (poor urine flow). Adjustment of the pressure can be done in an outpatient setting by adding or removing sterile saline solution via a syringe through the scrotum. By 2019, more than 4,500 ZSI 375 artificial urinary sphincters have been implanted worldwide. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40924799 | 1,142,094 |
263,817 | The "427" V8 was produced as both a top-oiler and side-oiler. Introduced in 1963, its true displacement was 425.98 cubic inches, but Ford called it the 427 because was the maximum displacement allowed by several racing organizations at the time. The stroke was the same as the 390 at , but the bore was increased to . The block was made of cast iron with an especially thickened deck to withstand higher compression. The cylinders were cast using cloverleaf molds— the corners were thicker all down the wall of each cylinder. Many 427s used a steel crankshaft and all were balanced internally. Most 427s used solid valve lifters with the exception of the 1968 block which was drilled for use with hydraulic lifters. Space-saving tunnel-port heads with matching intakes were available, which routed pushrods through the intake's ports in brass tunnels. As an engine designed for racing, it had many performance parts available both from the factory and the aftermarket. A race-ready NASCAR 13.6-1 high-riser was good for some +550 hp, depending on tune. This engine was also used in the A/FX-cars like the famous Fairlane Thunderbolt. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=408900 | 263,674 |
1,658,972 | Rowland performed many measurements of the atmosphere. One experiment included collecting air samples at various cities and locations around the globe to determine CClF North-South mixing. By measuring the concentrations at different latitudes, Rowland was able to see that CClF was mixing between hemispheres quite rapidly. The same measurement was repeated 8 years later and the results showed a steady increase in CClF concentrations. Rowland's work also showed how the density of the ozone layer varied by season increasing in November and decreasing until April where it levels out for the summer only to increase in November. Data gained throughout successive years showed that although the pattern was consistent, the overall ozone levels were dropping. Rowland and his colleagues interacted both with the public and the political side and suggested various solutions, which allowed to step wise reduce the CFC impact. CFC emissions were regulated first within Canada, the United States, Sweden and Norway. In the 1980s, the Vienna Agreement and the Montreal Protocol allowed for global regulation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=637217 | 1,658,039 |
1,609,818 | The botanist Luís Wittnich Carrisso, from the year he became a full professor, from 1918 until the date of his death in 1937, enriched the Garden with new plants, namely with exotic African plants, most of them originating in Angola. He developed relations with similar gardens, promoting exchanges of seeds and plants, reinforcing the offer in the publication of "Index Seminum", which, at the time, was considered one of the six best in the world, given its variety and scientific rigor. He restored the greenhouses and modernized their heating, where he started to grow a greater number of exotic plants, including the much appreciated "Victoria amazonica". He introduced important changes in the organization of the Garden, so that it could lend itself to perform its functions: to educate the public from the scientific, floricultural and landscape points of view; to support the teaching of Botany, in the preparation of students in the fields of taxonomy (vascular plants, non-vascular plants), anatomy, physiology, ecology and pharmacology; and have facilities where researchers can keep the materials necessary for their research activities. He made more space available to the public, planted a large number of trees, properly identified and labeled with plaques, with their respective scientific and common names, as well as the geographic distribution of the species. He also made space available for the installation of nurseries and founded the "Escola das Monocotiledóneas". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2228967 | 1,608,913 |
396,379 | The Formic species consists of hive-minded colonies directed by queens. In Ender's Game, Graff described them as being an insect that "could have evolved on earth, if things had gone a different way a billion years ago," and that their evolutionary ancestors could have looked similar to Earth's ants. While often described as "insectoid", the Formics are warm-blooded, developed an internal skeleton and shed most of their exoskeleton, evolved a complex system of internal organs, and they respire and perspire. If a queen dies, all the workers under her control lose their ability to function immediately; but in "Xenocide", implications exist that 'workers' can escape the influence of a queen. The Formic race is revealed to be trimorphic in "Shadows in Flight". Drones are much smaller and depend on a Hive Queen for survival, and their bodies are shaped to spend their lives clinging to her, until upon her death, they take flight to seek out a new queen. Drones are capable of individual thought and action as well as mind-to-mind communication, more limited than that of a queen; whereas queens communicate instantaneously and can even do so with other species. Formics live in vast underground colonies, usually without light, informing the assumption that Formics make use of sensory apparatus outside the range of the electromagnetic spectrum visible to humans. In the first novel they have artificial lighting; whereas in "Xenocide", Ender claims they rely on heat signature. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=475751 | 396,183 |
1,116,815 | "Kosmoceratops" is known from the Kaiparowits Formation of Utah, which dates to the late Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch, and occurs in a stratigraphic range spanning the upper part of its lower unit to the upper part of its middle unit, in sediments dating to 76.4–75.5 million years ago. The formation was deposited in the southern part of a basin (the Western Interior Basin) on the eastern margin of a landmass known as Laramidia (an island continent consisting of what is now western North America) within of the Western Interior Seaway, a shallow sea in the center of North America that divided the continent (the eastern landmass is known as Appalachia). The basin was broad, flat, crescent-shaped, and bounded by mountains on all sides except the Western Interior Seaway at the east. The formation represents an alluvial to coastal plain setting that was wet, humid, and dominated by large, deep channels with stable banks and perennial wetland swamps, ponds, and lakes. Rivers flowed generally west across the plains and drained into the Western Interior Seaway; the Gulf Coast region of the United States has been proposed as a good modern analogue (such as the current day swamplands of Louisiana). The formation preserves a diverse and abundant range of fossils, including continental and aquatic animals, plants, and palynomorphs (organic microfossils). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28916285 | 1,116,242 |
1,557,626 | Otto's research focus is a multi-pronged approach of population-genetic mathematical models and statistical tools to understand how evolutionary processes generate diverse biological features. The core of her research revolves around analyzing mathematical models and exploring the insights they yield about how biological systems evolve. Dr. Otto is also the author of the book "A Biologist's Guide to Mathematical Modeling in Ecology and Evolution". Through the analysis and development of stochastic models, Dr. Otto's colleagues and herself have shown how genes are transmitted across generations, the context in which genes are expressed, and how evolutionary constraints influence life trait evolution. The second major component of Dr. Otto's research involves the development of statistical tools such as likelihood-based approaches that allow them to infer how particular traits influence speciation and extinction. This allows us to answer questions such as: Do pollinators promote speciation of colorful flowers? Does genome size influence diversification? According to Otto, her research uses "mathematical models to clarify how features of an organism affect its potential for and rate of adaptation. She also steps back to address why such features vary in the first place. Why is it that some species produce offspring primarily by cloning themselves, whereas others never do? Why do some species have large genomes with many chromosomes, while others are streamlined?" Otto's recent work has investigated the genomic changes that underlie adaptation by yeast to harsh environmental conditions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33158087 | 1,556,741 |
1,672,904 | The X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM) was conceived as the X-ray spectroscopy cornerstone mission at an ESA workshop in Lyngby in June 1985, consisting a space observatory with twelve low-energy and seven high-energy telescopes. Due to practical constraints, the mission's payload was reduced to seven telescopes overall by 1987, though the success of EXOSAT inspired mission planners to improve the efficiency of the mission's observations by placing the spacecraft in a highly eccentric orbit, allowing the payload of the spacecraft to be reduced to its final design of three large telescopes – each with a reflecting area of 1,500 cm. By 1986, the cost of the STSP cornerstone was forecast to exceed its allocated 400 MAU budget, and in a February 1986 meeting, the SPC was presented with the possibility of cancelling the cornerstone in favour of a medium-size mission selection between SOHO, Cluster, and the "Kepler" Mars orbiter proposal, which had gained popularity among members of the SSAC. The Space Shuttle "Challenger" disaster, which occurred the month before, had an effect on proceedings, as SOHO was intended to be launched via the Shuttle. Despite this, the SSWG, SSAC, and SPC reaffirmed a commitment to the STSP cornerstone by descoping SOHO and limiting Cluster to three spacecraft, and reaching a collaboration agreement with NASA in October 1986 that would reduce the mission's cost – they would provide testing, launch services, and operations of SOHO and contribute various scientific instruments, while cancelling their "Equator" mission in favour of a fourth Cluster spacecraft on which American scientific instruments would be flown. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60457571 | 1,671,962 |
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