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1,790,704 | In 1925 Arber published her third book "The Monocotyledons". The Editors of the "Cambridge Botanical Handbooks series" had asked Ethel Sargant in 1910 to prepare a volume on the monocots for this series. However ill-health and advancing years made it almost impossible for Sargant to complete the book, and in 1918 she suggested Arber to complete the work. "The Monocotyledons" continues Arber's morphological methods of analysis she presented in "Water Plants". She provides a detailed study of the monocot plants from comparing their internal and external anatomy. However her discussion of the general principles she uses in her analysis are more explicit in this volume, as she discusses the methods and philosophy of morphological study. Although comparative anatomical analysis as demonstrated in "The Monocotyledons" and "Water Plants: A Study of Aquatic Angiosperms" was central to botanical investigation in the early 20th century, there were distinct differences between British and European researchers concerning the aims of morphological study. Arber addressed this by creating a distinction between "pure" and "applied" morphology, with her work focusing on comparative anatomy to investigate questions concerning significant topics such as constructing phylogenies, instead of using traditional views of plant structure. This view was further developed in her later work. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8134509 | 1,789,698 |
370,855 | Guiyu in the Guangdong region of China is a massive electronic waste processing community. It is often referred to as the "e-waste capital of the world." Traditionally, Guiyu was an agricultural community; however, in the mid-1990s it transformed into an e-waste recycling center involving over 75% of the local households and an additional 100,000 migrant workers. Thousands of individual workshops employ laborers to snip cables, pry chips from circuit boards, grind plastic computer cases into particles, and dip circuit boards in acid baths to dissolve the precious metals. Others work to strip insulation from all wiring in an attempt to salvage tiny amounts of copper wire. Uncontrolled burning, disassembly, and disposal has led to a number of environmental problems such as groundwater contamination, atmospheric pollution, and water pollution either by immediate discharge or from surface runoff (especially near coastal areas), as well as health problems including occupational safety and health effects among those directly and indirectly involved, due to the methods of processing the waste. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3887690 | 370,661 |
270,062 | A 2012 review by a panel convened by the U.S. Department of Defense to study whether the military should ban methylhexanamine supplements from stores on its bases concluded that: "The existing evidence does not conclusively establish that DMAA-containing substances are causally-associated with adverse medical events. However, a consistent theme among the studies is that DMAA use potentially affects cardiovascular function, just as other sympathomimetic stimulants. Without further rigorous study designs developed to evaluate the safety of DMAA, especially in patients with concomitant use of other substances, co-morbid conditions and high frequency use, the magnitude of the association of DMAA with adverse medical events is uncertain. Widespread use of DMAA-containing products by tens of thousands of Service members – often in combination with other substances – increases the likelihood of observing serious adverse events, even if the overall risk of a DMAA-related event is low, resulting in consequential impact to some Service members and other beneficiaries. DMAA should be further studied to evaluate its safety. Data from the case control study suggest that the frequency and amount of DMAA use and risk of specific [acquired medical events], particularly heat injuries and rhabdomyolysis, need to be examined in greater detail. ... The Safety Review Panel recommended ... to continue the prohibition of sales of DMAA-containing products in Exchanges and concessions. The Panel judged that the evidence supports sufficient risk, even if very low, of another death or catastrophic illness of a Service member who has used DMAA-containing products, without any offsetting benefit of these products." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=19120269 | 269,915 |
1,796,497 | The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced in December 2008 the selection of six cost-shared research projects for the development and demonstration of alternative vehicle technology projects totaling a DOE investment of up to $14.55 million over three years, subject to annual appropriations. Private sector contributions will further increase the financial investment for a total of up to $29.3 million. The selections announced are part of DOE’s continuing work to develop high efficiency vehicle technologies and are not part of the recently announced $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. These projects were selected under three diverse topic areas: lithium-ion battery materials and manufacturing (3M Company for developing advanced anode; BASF Catalyst for domestic production of low cost cathode materials and FMC Corporation for scaling up production of stabilized lithium metal powder for high energy cathodes); thermoelectric heating, ventilation and air conditioning (TE HVAC system); and aerodynamic heavy-duty truck trailers (Navistar International Corporation). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20181304 | 1,795,488 |
653,709 | Anguillid eels have a global distribution, and inhabit the waters of more than 150 countries. They are mainly found in tropical and temperate waters, except in the Eastern Pacific and South Atlantic. Conservation is difficult for this taxon because not much is known about their life history and behaviors. However, many Anguillid eels are of conservation concern, including the European eel ("A. anguilla"), the American eel ("A. rostrata"), the Japanese eel ("A. japonica"), the New Zealand longfin eel ("A. dieffenbachii"), and the Indonesian Longfinned Eel ("A. borneensis"). Threats to these species include: habitat loss/modification, migration barriers, pollution, parasitism, exploitation, and consumption, as eels are a popular food source especially in Asia and Europe. Fluctuating oceanic conditions associated with climate change also make these species vulnerable, with reduced water quality leading to biodiversity loss among the largest threats. In the Northern hemisphere, anguillid eels have had large declines in populations due to a number of reasons including overexploitation and migration inhibition via migration barriers. According to the IUCN Anguillid Eel Specialist Group, or the AESG, the need for conservation of this family is clear given recent declines. However, conservation efforts are being inhibited by a lack of knowledge of the biology of these species, especially in their social and spawning behavior, as well as a lack of long-term data sets. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2349109 | 653,365 |
685,923 | Before the emergence of revenue management, BOAC (now British Airways) experimented with differentiated fare products by offering capacity controlled "Earlybird" discounts to stimulate demand for seats that would otherwise fly empty. Taking it a step further, Robert Crandall, former Chairman and CEO of American Airlines, pioneered a practice he called yield management, which focused primarily on maximizing revenue through analytics-based inventory control. Under Crandall's leadership, American continued to invest in yield management's forecasting, inventory control and overbooking capabilities. By the early 1980s, the combination of a mild recession and new competition spawned by airline deregulation act (1978) posed an additional threat. Low-cost, low-fare airlines like People Express were growing rapidly because of their ability to charge even less than American's Super Saver fares. After investing millions in the next generation capability which they would call DINAMO (Dynamic Inventory Optimization and Maintenance Optimizer), American announced Ultimate Super Saver Fares in 1985 that were priced lower than those of People Express. These fares were non-refundable in addition to being advance-purchase restricted and capacity controlled. This yield management system targeted those discounts to only those situations where they had a surplus of empty seats. The system and analysts engaged in continual re-evaluation of the placement of the discounts to maximize their use. Over the next year, American's revenue increased 14.5% and its profits were up 47.8%. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8976534 | 685,566 |
1,779,873 | Taking the size effect into account is essential for safe prediction of strength of large concrete bridges, nuclear containments, roof shells, tall buildings, tunnel linings, large load-bearing parts of aircraft, spacecraft and ships made of fiber-polymer composites, wind turbines, large geotechnical excavations, earth and rock slopes, floating sea ice carrying loads, oil platforms under ice forces, etc. Their design depends on the material properties measured on much smaller laboratory specimens. These properties must be extrapolated to sizes greater by one or two orders of magnitude. Even if an expensive full-scale failure test, for example a failure test of the rudder of a very large aircraft, can be carried out, it is financially prohibitive to repeat it thousand times to obtain the statistical distribution of load capacity. Such statistical information, underlying the safety factors, is obtainable only by proper extrapolation of laboratory tests. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33984856 | 1,778,870 |
315,174 | As the twentieth century began, the university attempted to balance its identity as both a pragmatic, frontier establishment and an academic, intellectual institution. In addition to its football team, several noteworthy campus organizations were founded around this time, including a debate team, the school's first fraternities and sororities, and the Society of Innocents (more commonly known as the Innocents Society). Much of this new growth was attributed to the hiring of Brown University president Elisha Andrews; under his guidance Nebraska became the fifth-largest public university in the United States. Andrews ambitiously sought funding for expansion; a 1904 investment from John D. Rockefeller led to the construction of The Temple, which still stands on campus. In total, nine new buildings were constructed during his tenure, including Nebraska Field, and the school nearly doubled in enrollment. Shortly after Andrews retired due to health concerns, a fierce debate ensued over whether to keep the University of Nebraska in downtown Lincoln or to move it out of town. A relocation to the outskirts of Lincoln would allow for cheaper, quicker expansion and provide farmland for the College of Agriculture. New chancellor Samuel Avery favored this relocation, believing it would make alcohol-seeking students less likely to visit downtown Lincoln or nearby Havelock (then a separate city from Lincoln). Ultimately, a statewide vote determined the university would remain in its original location, with funding prioritized for additional buildings on the Farm Campus (now East Campus). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=323058 | 315,005 |
816,812 | The Parthenon frieze is the defining monument of the High Classical style of Attic sculpture. It stands between the gradual eclipse of the Severe style, as witnessed on the Parthenon metopes, and the evolution of the Late Classical Rich style, exemplified by the Nike balustrade. What sources the designer of the frieze drew upon is difficult to gauge, certainly large scale narrative art was familiar to 5th-century Athenians as in the Stoa poikile painting by Polygnotos of Thasos. While there is an overall coherence to the work there are design differences on opposing sides of the frieze that has suggested to some scholars the possibility of more than one designer and a pattern of influence amongst them. There is greater nudity and frontally on the north than the south, the massing and distribution of figures is greatly different on the east than the more widely spaced west, and the east and north generally exhibit greater innovation. This evidence, along with the frequency with which Greek artists are thought to have collaborated, has led Jenifer Neils to hypothesize the existence of two designers working on the sculpture. This would admit the possibility of a later designer comparing and competing with the earlier, and so, explain the observable changes in composition. Geographical orientations also may have dictated what would be represented on one side versus another, i.e., Amazons to the west, and so forth. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2147375 | 816,376 |
526,511 | In the European Middle Ages of the 15th and 16th centuries the lives of European citizens were based around agriculture but when printing arrived, with movable type and woodcut illustrations, it was not treatises on agriculture that were published, but lists of medicinal plants with descriptions of their properties or "virtues". These first plant books, known as herbals showed that botany was still a part of medicine, as it had been for most of ancient history. Authors of herbals were often curators of university gardens, and most herbals were derivative compilations of classic texts, especially "De Materia Medica". However, the need for accurate and detailed plant descriptions meant that some herbals were more botanical than medicinal. German Otto Brunfels's (1464–1534) "Herbarum Vivae Icones" (1530) contained descriptions of about 47 species new to science combined with accurate illustrations. His fellow countryman Hieronymus Bock's (1498–1554) "Kreutterbuch" of 1539 described plants he found in nearby woods and fields and these were illustrated in the 1546 edition. However, it was Valerius Cordus (1515–1544) who pioneered the formal botanical description that detailed both flowers and fruits, some anatomy including the number of chambers in the ovary, and the type of ovule placentation. He also made observations on pollen and distinguished between inflorescence types. His five-volume "Historia Plantarum" was published about 18 years after his early death aged 29 in 1561–1563. In Holland Rembert Dodoens (1517–1585), in "Stirpium Historiae" (1583), included descriptions of many new species from the Netherlands in a scientific arrangement and in England William Turner (1515–1568) in his "Libellus De Re Herbaria Novus" (1538) published names, descriptions and localities of many native British plants. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=25007304 | 526,238 |
242,907 | Jungian Sandplay started as a therapeutic method in the 1950s. Although its origin has been credited to a Swiss Jungian analyst, Dora Kalff it was in fact, her mentor and trainer, Dr. Margaret Lowenfeld, a British paediatrician, who had developed the "Lowenfeld World Technique" inspired by the writer H. G. Wells in her work with children, using a sand tray and figurines in the 1930s. Jung had witnessed a demonstration of the technique while on a visit to the UK in 1937. Kalff saw in it potential as a further application of analytical psychology. Encouraged by Jung, Kalff developed the new application over a number of years and called it "Sandplay". From 1962 she began to train Jungian Analysts in the method including in the United States, Europe and Japan. Both Kalff and Jung believed an image can offer greater therapeutic engagement and insight than words alone. Through the sensory experience of working with sand and objects, and their symbolic resonance new areas of awareness can be brought into consciousness, as in dreams, which through their frames and storyline can bring material into consciousness as part of an integrating and healing process. The historian of psychology, Sonu Shamdasani has commented: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=448370 | 242,780 |
1,368,577 | Kaplan credits artist Arnold Tsang from coming up with the preliminary designs of all the heroes in the game. The narrative and characters themselves were then developed through an iterative process between the gameplay developers, artists, and promotional media as they worked to bring the narrative together. In this regards, Torbjörn was the defining character for the game, as while he was not created first, his art style was originally created by Tsang to help bridge the gap between the "Warcraft" universe to "Overwatch". Blizzard's art director Sam Didier reviewed Tsang's original design, prompting several questions to help tighten the art design that led to Torbjörn's gameplay mechanics, and subsequently, Torbjörn's appearance was used as a baseline in all other character and map designs to make sure that these assets would appear to fit into the same universe as Torbjörn. Another example is Doomfist, a character introduced into one of the game's promotional videos where his gauntlet was on display. This led to the creation of one of the maps that expanded upon the Doomfist concept, making that a title passed down among others in the past, and seeding some of the existing heroes' backstory has had connections to the Doomfist title. This process gave them a sufficient starting point to work from in introducing Doomfist as a playable hero in "Overwatch". Other examples of similar iterative expansion to the characters given by Metzen and Chu include the heroes Genji and Hanzo who were characters borne out of an initial single character concept and leading to them being rivals of each other, and the introduction of Lúcio as a means to expand upon the loosely connected Vishkar Corporation concept that was part of Symmetra's backstory. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55762533 | 1,367,821 |
651,513 | In 2019, a study employed a large eddy simulation model to estimate that equatorial stratocumulus clouds could break up and scatter when CO2 levels rise above 1,200 ppm (almost three times higher than the current levels, and over 4 times greater than the preindustrial levels). The study estimated that this would cause a surface warming of about 8 degrees Celsius globally and 10 degrees in the subtropics, which would be in addition to at least 4 degrees of warming already caused by such CO2 concentrarions. In addition, stratocumulus clouds would not reform until the CO2 concentrations drop to a much lower level. It was suggested that this finding could help explain past episodes of unusually rapid warming such as Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum However, because large eddy simulation models are simpler and smaller-scale than the general circulation models used for climate projections, with limited representation of atmospheric processes like subsidence, this finding is currently considered speculative. Additionally, CO2 concentrations would only reach 1,200 ppm if the world follows Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5, which represents the highest possible greenhouse gas emission scenario and involves a massive expansion of coal infrastructure. In that case, 1,200 ppm would be passed shortly after 2100. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=166736 | 651,171 |
139,386 | Touchscreens are often used with haptic response systems. A common example of this technology is the vibratory feedback provided when a button on the touchscreen is tapped. Haptics are used to improve the user's experience with touchscreens by providing simulated tactile feedback, and can be designed to react immediately, partly countering on-screen response latency. Research from the University of Glasgow (Brewster, Chohan, and Brown, 2007; and more recently Hogan) demonstrates that touchscreen users reduce input errors (by 20%), increase input speed (by 20%), and lower their cognitive load (by 40%) when touchscreens are combined with haptics or tactile feedback. On top of this, a study conducted in 2013 by Boston College explored the effects that touchscreens haptic stimulation had on triggering psychological ownership of a product. Their research concluded that a touchscreens ability to incorporate high amounts of haptic involvement resulted in customers feeling more endowment to the products they were designing or buying. The study also reported that consumers using a touchscreen were willing to accept a higher price point for the items they were purchasing. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=667206 | 139,329 |
1,740,548 | In the anterior part of the ventral stream, various regions appear to be tuned selectively to identify body parts (extrastriate body area), faces (fusiform face area) (according to a recent paper by Adamson and Troiani (2018) regions of the fusiform face area respond equally to "food"), moving bodies (posterior superior temporal sulcus), or even scenes (parahippocampal place area). Neuronal tuning in these areas requires fine discrimination among complex patterns in each relevant category for object recognition. Recent findings suggest that this fine discrimination is a function of expertise and the individual level of categorization with stimuli. Specifically, work has been done by Gauthier "et al" (2001) to show fusiform face area (FFA) activation for birds in bird experts and cars in car experts when compared to the opposing stimuli. Gauthier "et al" (2002) also utilized a new class of objects called Greebles and trained people to recognize them at individual levels. After training, the FFA was tuned to distinguish between this class of objects as well as faces. Curran "et al" (2002) similarly trained people in a less structured class of objects called "blobs" and showed FFA selective activation for them. Overall, neurons can be tuned selectively discriminate between certain sets of stimuli that are experienced regularly in the world. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2920040 | 1,739,567 |
1,395,225 | This problem however was resolved with the use of so-called self-polishing paints, in which the biocide was released at a slower rate as the seawater reacted with the surface layer of the paint. More recently, copper-based anti-fouling paints have been used because they are less toxic than TBT in aquatic environment, but are only effective against marine animal life, and not so much weed growth. Non-stick coatings contain no biocide, but have extremely slippery surfaces which prevents most fouling and makes it easier to clean the little fouling that does occur. Natural biocides are found on marine organisms such as coral and sponges and also prevent fouling if applied to a vessel. Creating a difference in electrical charge between the hull and sea water is a common practice in the prevention of fouling. This technology has proven to be effective, but is easily damaged and can be expensive. Finally, microscopic prickles can be added to a coating, and depending on length and distribution have shown the ability to prevent the attachment of most biofouling. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32006269 | 1,394,454 |
216,132 | Late in the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy became concerned about its pilots ejecting over hostile territory and those pilots either being captured or killed and the losses in men and aircraft in attempts to rescue them. Both services began a program titled "Air Crew Escape/Rescue Capability" or "Aerial Escape and Rescue Capability" (AERCAB) ejection seats (both terms have been used by the US military and defence industry), where after the pilot ejected, the ejection seat would fly them to a location far enough away from where they ejected to where they could safely be picked up. A Request for Proposals for concepts for AERCAB ejection seats were issued in the late 1960s. Three companies submitted papers for further development: A Rogallo wing design by Bell Systems; a gyrocopter design by Kaman Aircraft; and a mini-conventional fixed wing aircraft employing a Princeton Wing (i.e. a wing made of flexible material that rolls out and then becomes rigid by means of internal struts or supports etc. deploying) by Fairchild Hiller. All three, after ejection, would be propelled by small turbojet engine developed for target drones. With the exception of the Kaman design, the pilot would still be required to parachute to the ground after reaching a safety-point for rescue. The AERCAB project was terminated in the 1970s with the end of the Vietnam War. The Kaman design, in early 1972, was the only one which was to reach the hardware stage. It came close to being tested with a special landing-gear platform attached to the AERCAB ejection seat for first-stage ground take offs and landings with a test pilot. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=388794 | 216,024 |
2,170,169 | According to ASTM D1002 The specimens tested will be configured as lap joints. They will need to be sectioned in a way that they can fit in the grips used for the tensile testing. The length of the overlap for the lap joint is determined by the thickness of the material, the yield point of the metal, and the value that is 50% of the estimated average shear strength in an adhesive bond, but for the purpose of this article it will be specified for a welded joint. The code also specifies the required capabilities of the machine used to test the shear strength. The breaking load of the specimens must fall between 15 and 85 percent of the full scale capabilities of the apparatus. For thermoplastic composites these machines need to be able to maintain a loading rate of 80–100 kg/cm The jaws of the machine must align with test specimen so as soon as the test gets started the long axis of the test specimen will be aligned with the direction of the applied tension. The machines grip on the test specimen must be 63 mm (2.5 in). The code specifies what needs to be recorded from the test such as material used, material thickness and other necessary sample measurements, and material properties. ASTM also governs on precision of testing, and avoiding bias in the results. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56316763 | 2,168,931 |
30,931 | The hypothesis of interbreeding, also known as hybridization, admixture or hybrid-origin theory, has been discussed ever since the discovery of Neanderthal remains in the 19th century. The linear view of human evolution began to be abandoned in the 1970s as different species of humans were discovered that made the linear concept increasingly unlikely. In the 21st century with the advent of molecular biology techniques and computerization, whole-genome sequencing of Neanderthal and human genome were performed, confirming recent admixture between different human species. In 2010, evidence based on molecular biology was published, revealing unambiguous examples of interbreeding between archaic and modern humans during the Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic. It has been demonstrated that interbreeding happened in several independent events that included Neanderthals and Denisovans, as well as several unidentified hominins. Today, approximately 2% of DNA from all non-African populations (including Europeans, Asians, and Oceanians) is Neanderthal, with traces of Denisovan heritage. Also, 4–6% of modern Melanesian genetics are Denisovan. Comparisons of the human genome to the genomes of Neandertals, Denisovans and apes can help identify features that set modern humans apart from other hominin species. In a 2016 comparative genomics study, a Harvard Medical School/UCLA research team made a world map on the distribution and made some predictions about where Denisovan and Neanderthal genes may be impacting modern human biology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10326 | 30,921 |
1,887,093 | The sol–gel process has a long history of use for synthesis of silicate systems and other oxides and it has become a widely spread research field with high technological relevance, for example for the fabrication of thin films, coatings, nanoparticles and fibers. Sol-gel processing technology at low temperatures, an alternative to traditional melt processing of glasses, involves the synthesis of a solution (sol), typically composed of metal-organic and metal salt precursors followed by the formation of a gel by chemical reaction or aggregation, and lastly thermal treatment for drying, organic removal, and sometimes crystallization and cooling treatment. The synthesis of specific silicate bioactive glasses by the sol–gel technique at low temperatures using metal alkoxides as precursors was shown in 1991 by Li et al. For the synthesis of bioactive glasses, typical precursors used are tetraethyl orthosilicate, calcium nitrate and triethylphosphate. After hydrolysis and poly-condensation reactions a gel is formed which subsequently is calcinated at 600–700°C to form the glass. Based on the preparation method, sol–gel derived products, e.g. thin films or particles are highly porous exhibiting a high specific surface area. Recent work on fabricating bioactive silicate glass nanoparticles by sol–gel process has been carried out by Hong et al. In their research, nanoscale bioactive glass particles were obtained by the combination of two steps; sol–gel route and co-precipitation method, wherein the mixture of precursors was hydrolyzed in acidic environment and condensed in alkaline condition separately, and then followed by a freeze-drying process. The morphology and size of bioactive glass nanoparticles could be tailored by varying the production conditions and the feeding ratio of reagents. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=39585748 | 1,886,011 |
394,094 | Many smartwatch smartphone models manufactured in the 2010s are completely functional as standalone products. Some are used in sports, the GPS tracking unit being used to record historical data. For example, after a workout, data can be uploaded onto a computer or online to create a log of activities for analysis or sharing. Some watches can serve as full GPS watches, displaying maps and current coordinates, and recording tracks. Users can "mark" their current location and then edit the entry's name and coordinates, which enables navigation to those new coordinates. As companies add competitive products into the market, media space is becoming a desired commodity on smartwatches. With Apple, Sony, Samsung, and Motorola introducing their smartwatch models, 15 percent of tech consumers use wearable technologies. The functionality of these watches attracts tech consumers with buying power, which has attracted advertisers. Mobile advertising on wearable devices was expected to increase heavily by 2017 as advanced hypertargeting modules were introduced to the devices. In order for an advertisement to be effective on a smartwatch, companies have stated that each ad must be able to create an experience native to the smartwatch itself. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=28825877 | 393,899 |
776,920 | These tall trees required deep rooting systems to acquire water and nutrients, and provide anchorage. These systems broke up the upper layers of bedrock and stabilized a deep layer of soil, which would have been of the order of metres thick. In contrast, early Devonian plants bore only rhizoids and rhizomes that could penetrate no more than a few centimeters. The mobilization of a large portion of soil had a huge effect: soil promotes weathering, the chemical breakdown of rocks, releasing ions which are nutrients for plants and algae. The relatively sudden input of nutrients into river water may have caused eutrophication and subsequent anoxia. For example, during an algal bloom, organic material formed at the surface can sink at such a rate that decomposing organisms use up all available oxygen by decaying them, creating anoxic conditions and suffocating bottom-dwelling fish. The fossil reefs of the Frasnian were dominated by stromatoporoids and (to a lesser degree) corals—organisms which only thrive in low-nutrient conditions. Therefore, the postulated influx of high levels of nutrients may have caused an extinction. Anoxic conditions correlate better with biotic crises than phases of cooling, suggesting anoxia may have played the dominant role in extinction. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1350609 | 776,504 |
803,372 | The FFA is underdeveloped in children and does not fully develop until adolescence. This calls into question the evolutionary purpose of the FFA, as children show the ability to differentiate faces. Three-day-old babies have been shown to prefer the face of their mother. Babies as early as three months old have shown the ability to distinguish between faces. During this time, babies may exhibit the ability to differentiate between genders, with some evidence suggesting that they prefer faces of the same sex as their primary caregiver. It is theorized that, in terms of evolution, babies focus on women for food, although the preference could simply reflect a bias for the caregivers they experience. Infants do not appear to use this area for the perception of faces. Recent fMRI work has found no face selective area in the brain of infants 4 to 6 months old. However, given that the adult human brain has been studied far more extensively than the infant brain, and that infants are still undergoing major neurodevelopmental processes, it may simply be that the FFA is not located in an anatomically familiar area. It may also be that activation for many different percepts and cognitive tasks in infants is diffuse in terms of neural circuitry, as infants are still undergoing periods of neurogenesis and neural pruning; this may make it more difficult to distinguish the signal, or what we would imagine as visual and complex familiar objects (like faces), from the noise, including static firing rates of neurons, and activity that is dedicated to a different task entirely than the activity of face processing. Infant vision involves only light and dark recognition, recognizing only major features of the face, activating the amygdala. These findings question the evolutionary purpose of the FFA. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7800961 | 802,943 |
116,223 | Many Beta-M RTGs produced by the Soviet Union to power lighthouses and beacons have become orphaned sources of radiation. Several of these units have been illegally dismantled for scrap metal (resulting in the complete exposure of the Sr-90 source), fallen into the ocean, or have defective shielding due to poor design or physical damage. The US Department of Defense cooperative threat reduction program has expressed concern that material from the Beta-M RTGs can be used by terrorists to construct a dirty bomb. However, the Strontium titanate perovskite used is resistant to all likely forms of environmental degradation and cannot melt or dissolve in water. Bioaccumulation is unlikely as SrTiO passes through the digestive tract of humans or other animals unchanged, but the animal or human who ingested it would still receive a significant radiation dose to the sensitive intestinal lining during passage. Mechanical degradation of "pebbles" or larger objects into fine dust is more likely and could disperse the material over a wider area, however this would also reduce the risk of any single exposure event resulting in a high dose. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=211485 | 116,178 |
1,044,336 | Since Early Modern times, vitalism stood in contrast to the mechanistic explanation of biological systems started by Descartes. Nineteenth century chemists set out to disprove the claim that forming organic compounds required vitalist influence. In 1828, Friedrich Wöhler showed that urea could be made entirely from inorganic chemicals. Louis Pasteur believed that fermentation required whole organisms, which he supposed carried out chemical reactions found only in living things. The embryologist Hans Driesch, experimenting on sea urchin eggs, showed that separating the first two cells led to two complete but small blastulas, seemingly showing that cell division did not divide the egg into sub-mechanisms, but created more cells each with the vital capability to form a new organism. Vitalism faded out with the demonstration of more satisfactory mechanistic explanations of each of the functions of a living cell or organism. By 1931, biologists had "almost unanimously abandoned vitalism as an acknowledged belief." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=53955838 | 1,043,792 |
705,384 | At the beginning of American modernism, photography still struggled to be recognized as a form of art. The photographer Alfred Stieglitz described it as: "Artists who saw my earlier photographs began to tell me that they envied me; that they felt my photographs were superior to their paintings, but that, unfortunately, photography was not an art. I could not understand why the artists should envy me for my work, yet, in the same breath, decry it because it was machine-made." (Stieglitz:8). In 1902, Stieglitz founded the Photo-Secession group with members such as Edward Steichen, Gertrude Käsebier and Clarence Hudson White, which had the objective of raising the standard and increasing the awareness of art photography. At that point, their main style was "pictorialist", which was known for modifying photos through soft focus, special filters or exotic printing processes, to imitate the style of paintings and etchings of that time. For means of publication, Stieglitz, as the driving force of the movement, started the magazine "Camera Work", in which he published artists he felt represented the movement. He also ran three galleries one after another, namely "291" (1905–1917), "The Intimate Gallery" (1925–1929) and "An American Place" (1929–1947). Especially 291 served as a meeting point for artists and writers and was the first to exhibit the early modernist art works of European artists, such as Henri Matisse, Auguste Rodin, Henri Rousseau, Paul Cézanne, and Pablo Picasso, in the United States. A further link to the European avant-garde was established by Man Ray. Born in America and inspired by the work he saw in Stieglitz' galleries, Ray emigrated to Paris in 1921 and together with artists of the European Dada and Surrealist movements created new photographic techniques such as rayographs (placing objects directly on photosensitive paper). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3662104 | 705,015 |
1,789,846 | WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine is housed in eight locations in Kalamazoo, Michigan including a medical education facility on Portage Street in downtown Kalamazoo, and clinical sites on Oakland Drive, the Family Health Center on Paterson Street, and on the Borgess Medical Center Campus on Shaffer Street. The home of the new medical school includes WMed Health, a modern 60,000 square foot clinical building on the Oakland Drive Campus, and a seven-story 350,000 square foot educational building in downtown Kalamazoo that was donated by MPI Research. Located on the new W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus, the educational building underwent a $68 million renovation and expansion project and opened in June 2014. The second phase of renovations completed in 2016 provides basic science laboratory research space and equipment. In 2019, the renovation of an unfinished portion of the seventh floor of the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus allowed for Department of Pathology faculty, staff, laboratories, and resources to be housed together, a move meant to improve efficiency and address space constraints in the department's role in providing forensic pathology services for several Michigan counties. The renovation also provided room for the growth of anatomy education, resident and fellow training, and research. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=40473374 | 1,788,840 |
1,485,505 | The company sponsors numerous triathlon, swimming, biking, running and outdoor athletes in order to promote its products, including the Brazilian team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, USA Triathlon, TriGrandPrix, the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series, Western States Endurance Run, and the Leadville Race Series. In 2012, the company became the first official gel and chew sponsor for Ironman. In 2013, in conjunction with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, GU established the "Challenge for Kids" campaign to benefit children suffering from amputation maladies, including traumatic limb loss, congenital effects, and "disease-state" complications. The company created a special edition passionfruit flavor for its Roctane line; profits from the product would allow the purchase of prosthetics, allowing children to regain mobility. GU increased its goal to $100,000, having surpassed its original goal of $50,000. The company has also supported the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, an organization that promotes high school mountain biking. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37953670 | 1,484,668 |
1,920,732 | It was the first quantitative analysis of tooth microwear in dinosaurs. Purnell said the technique employed in the study was equally important as the findings themselves, and that the study proved analyzing microscopic scratch marks on teeth can provide reliable information about an animal's diet and chewing mechanism. Purnell said this method could be used to study other areas of scientific research, including the dietary habits of other long-vanished species including dinosaurs, extinct groups of fish or very early mammals. Purnell said the findings were further significant not only for the basic understanding of how hadrosaurids ate, but also because a lack of such understanding from those dinosaurs represented a "big gap in our knowledge" of the ecosystem of the late Cretaceous. Because hadrosaurs were the dominant terrestrial herbivores of that time, they played a major role in structure the ecosystem of the Late Cretaceous period. Purnell said, "The more we understand the ecosystems of the past, and how they were affected by global events like climate change, the better we can understand how changes now are going to pan out in the future." Lawrence Witmer, a paleontologist with Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, called the study, "One of the best microwear papers I've seen", although he said he was not yet convinced the hadrosaurid upper jaw could flex. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23481302 | 1,919,629 |
731,649 | In 1826 Niepce was the first to develop a photo which used lights to reproduce images, the advancement of photography has drastically increased over the years. Everyone is now a photographer in their own way, whereas during the early 1800s and 1900s the expense of lasting photos was highly valued and appreciated by consumers and producers. According to the magazine article on five ways digital camera changed us states the following:The impact on professional photographers has been dramatic. Once upon a time a photographer wouldn't dare waste a shot unless they were virtually certain it would work.”The use of digital imaging( photography) has changed the way we interacted with our environment over the years. Part of the world is experienced differently through visual imagining of lasting memories, it has become a new form of communication with friends, family and love ones around the world without face to face interactions. Through photography it is easy to see those that you have never seen before and feel their presence without them being around, for example Instagram is a form of social media where anyone is allowed to shoot, edit, and share photos of whatever they want with friends and family. Facebook, snapshot, vine and twitter are also ways people express themselves with little or no words and are able to capture every moment that is important. Lasting memories that were hard to capture, is now easy because everyone is now able to take pictures and edit it on their phones or laptops. Photography has become a new way to communicate and it is rapidly increasing as time goes by, which has affected the world around us. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=275682 | 731,263 |
20,130 | In August 2013, Raytheon and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems began to seek funding for a fourth-generation Patriot intercepting system, called the Patriot Advanced Affordable Capability-4 (PAAC-4). The system aims to integrate the Stunner interceptor from the jointly-funded David's Sling program with Patriot PAC-3 radars, launchers, and engagement control stations. The two-stage, multimode seeking Stunner would replace single-stage, radar-guided PAC-3 missiles produced by Lockheed Martin. Government and industry sources claim the Stunner-based PAAC-4 interceptors will offer improved operational performance at 20 percent of the $2 million unit cost of the Lockheed-built PAC-3 missiles. The companies are seeking $20 million in U.S. government funding to demonstrate cost and performance claims through a prototype PAAC-4 system. Israeli program officials have said that a previous teaming agreement between Raytheon and Rafael would allow the U.S. company to assume prime contractor status, and produce at least 60 percent of the Stunner missile in the United States. The Missile Defense Agency has said that the U.S. Army is considering use of the Stunner as a potential solution to future U.S. military requirements. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=52024 | 20,122 |
780,676 | Dependent on the configuration, the AW189's cabin can accommodate up to 19 passengers and two crew members on crashworthy seats. According to AgustaWestland, the AW189 possesses the largest cabin in its class, which is accessed via large sliding doors on either side of the fuselage; a separate externally accessed baggage compartment is also present. The interior is customised to the mission role being undertaken; these include a self-contained emergency medical service (EMS) layout, passenger configurations (with in-flight entertainment systems offered), mission consoles for SAR and law enforcement operations, and an optional dividing wall between the cockpit and main cabin may also be installed. Under certain conditions and limitations, the rotorcraft can be flown by a single pilot. Various pieces of optional equipment can be installed upon the AW189, including fast roping kits, external electric hoist, cargo hook, air conditioning, auxiliary fuel tanks, mission console, emergency flotation system (certified up to Sea State 6), external life rafts, emergency lighting, external search light, main cabin bubble windows, wire strike protection system, de-icing systems providing multiple levels of protection. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32199250 | 780,258 |
410,669 | If keratoconus is suspected, the ophthalmologist or optometrist will search for other characteristic findings of the disease by means of slit lamp examination of the cornea. An advanced case is usually readily apparent to the examiner, and can provide for an unambiguous diagnosis prior to more specialized testing. Under close examination, a ring of yellow-brown to olive-green pigmentation known as a Fleischer ring can be observed in around half of keratoconic eyes. The Fleischer ring, caused by deposition of the iron oxide hemosiderin within the corneal epithelium, is subtle and may not be readily detectable in all cases, but becomes more evident when viewed under a cobalt blue filter. Similarly, around 50% of subjects exhibit Vogt's striae, fine stress lines within the cornea caused by stretching and thinning. The striae temporarily disappear while slight pressure is applied to the eyeball. A highly pronounced cone can create a V-shaped indentation in the lower eyelid when the person's gaze is directed downwards, known as Munson's sign. Other clinical signs of keratoconus will normally have presented themselves long before Munson's sign becomes apparent, and so this finding, though a classic sign of the disease, tends not to be of primary diagnostic importance. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=252630 | 410,467 |
1,652,561 | The International Aerial Robotics Competition is a long-running event begun in 1991 to advance the state of the art in fully autonomous air vehicles. This competition is restricted to university teams (although industry and governmental sponsorship of teams is allowed). Key to this event is the creation of flying robots which must complete complex missions without any human intervention. Successful entries are able to interpret their environment and make real-time decisions based only on a high-level mission directive (e.g., "find a particular target inside a building having certain characteristics which is among a group of buildings 3 kilometers from the aerial robot launch point"). In 2000, a $30,000 prize was awarded during the 3rd Mission (search and rescue), and in 2008, $80,000 in prize money was awarded at the conclusion of the 4th Mission (urban reconnaissance). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15893225 | 1,651,629 |
308,404 | Preliminary studies and technological development of Gaganyaan started in 2006 under the generic name "Orbital Vehicle". The plan was to design a simple capsule with an endurance of about a week in space, a capacity of two astronauts, and a splashdown landing after re-entry. The project was commissioned in 2007 with expected completion by 2024 with a budget of around ₹10,000 crore. The design was finalized by March 2008 and was submitted to the Government of India for funding. The government funding for the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme was sanctioned in February 2009, but it fell short due to limited developmental funding. Initially, the first uncrewed flight of the orbital vehicle was proposed to be in 2013, then it was revised to 2016. However, in April 2012 it was reported that funding problems placed the future of the project in serious doubt; and in August 2013 it was announced that all crewed spaceflight efforts by India had been designated as being "off ISRO's priority list". By early 2014 the project was reconsidered and was one of the main beneficiaries of a substantial budget increase announced in February 2014. ISRO is developing the Gaganyaan orbital vehicle on the tests performed with their scaled 550 kg Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE), which was launched and recovered in January 2007. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20328936 | 308,239 |
1,203,828 | CSF1R signaling is involved in several diseases and disorders of the central nervous system. Research using animal models of epilepsy (kainic acid-induced seizures) suggests that CSF1 signaling during seizures protects neurons by activating neuronal CREB signaling. CSF1R agonism during seizures increases neuronal survival whereas neuron-specific "Csf1r" loss-of-function worsens kainic acid excitotoxicity, suggesting CSF1R signaling in neurons directly protects against seizure-related neuronal damage. Although CSF1R signaling is beneficial in certain contexts, it is detrimental in diseases where microglia drive tissue damage. In Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1, CSF-1 secretion from endoneurial cells stimulates proliferation and activation of macrophages and microglia that cause demyelination. Likewise in multiple sclerosis, CSF1R signaling supports the survival of inflammatory microglia which promote demyelination. CSF1R inhibition prophylactically reduces demyelination in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis animal model. The role of CSF1R signaling in Alzheimer's disease is more complicated because microglia both protect and damage the brain in response to Alzheimer's disease pathology. CSF-1 stimulates primary cultured human microglia to phagocytose toxic Aβ peptides. Microglia also initiate TREM2-dependent immune responses to amyloid plaques which protects neurons. However, Alzheimer's disease microglia also excessively secrete inflammatory cytokines and prune synapses promoting synapse loss, neuronal death, and cognitive impairment. Both CSF1R stimulation and inhibition improves cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease models. Thus, microglia seem to have both protective and neurotoxic functions during Alzheimer's disease neurodegeneration. Similar findings have been reported in lesion studies of the mouse brain, which showed that inhibition of CSF1R after lesioning improves recovery but inhibition during lesioning worsens recovery. CSF1R-targeting therapies for neurological disorders may impact both detrimental and beneficial microglia functions. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14722972 | 1,203,183 |
2,214,182 | The objective of this project was the development of flight-path planning and aircraft guidance and control technology to suit the unique features of the consistent-sensing low-altitude trajectory-constrained aerial inspection problem. This problem is defined by the airborne collection of spatial information that is related to approximately linear power-line "feeder"-type infrastructure. Working with the CRC for Spatial Information and Ergon Energy, previous research had already demonstrated the essential importance of basic automation technologies in such large-scale inspection tasks. The specific objective of this project was the development of additional automation mechanisms that improve inspection efficiency, operational flexibility, and operational reliability so that high quality spatial information can be delivered in a timely and cost effective manner. The potential benefits of advanced 3D planning and flight control for the powerline network inspection activity include reduced pilot workload in both horizontal and vertical control of the aircraft, by maintaining safe horizontal and vertical separation from terrain/obstacles, and positioning the aircraft at the correct altitude, speed and orientation for effective data capture. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=22742540 | 2,212,922 |
1,503,118 | Zuckerkandl was raised in Vienna, Austria in a household of intellectuals, but his family relocated in 1938 to Paris, and later Algiers, to escape the racial policy of Nazi Germany with respect to Jews. At the end of World War II, he spent one year at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), then came to the United States to study physiology—earning a master's degree in 1947 from the University of Illinois, under C. Ladd Prosser—then returned to the Sorbonne to complete a Ph.D. in biology. Zuckerkandl developed a strong interest in molecular problems; his early research at a marine biology lab in Roscoff emphasized the roles of copper oxidases and hemocyanin in the molting cycles of crabs. In 1957, Zuckerkandl met renowned chemist Linus Pauling, who was becoming interested in molecular diseases and molecular evolution as an outgrowth of his activism on topics concerning nuclear power. They arranged a post-doctoral fellowship, and Zuckerkandl (now with his wife Jane) returned to the United States to work with Pauling at the California Institute of Technology beginning in 1959. He was an atheist. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2160477 | 1,502,272 |
1,994,330 | The curriculum at Ward Island had many of the same topics at the three ARM secondary schools, but with a number of notable differences. The Navy's airborne equipment was physically much smaller than shipboard and land-based electronics, and had to use the power generated by the carrying vehicle. Also, it was often designed to be operated by either the aircraft pilot or a crew member who had other primary duties; thus, it was necessarily easier to adjust – often including automatic tuning; therefore, lecture instruction included topics to support these requirements. Most airborne radios operated in VHF bands, and the associated antennas and their placement were important topics. Microwave radar, which required less physical space than its VHF predecessor, soon became the dominant feature in airborne applications; this required considerable attention be given to dish antennas and their mechanical drives. Sonar was not included, but there was more attention given to recognition (IFF), direction-finding, and LORAN radio-navigation systems. There were also special courses on subjects such as the Norden bombsight, the magnetic anomaly detector (MAD), and the Target Drone Denny (TDD-1). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=36494078 | 1,993,187 |
393,710 | Philosopher of science Peter J. Lewis, a critic of the many-worlds interpretation, considers the whole thought experiment an example of the difficulty of accommodating probability within the many-worlds framework: "[s]tandard quantum mechanics yields probabilities for various future occurrences, and these probabilities can be fed into an appropriate decision theory. But if every physically possible consequence of the current state of affairs is certain to occur, on what basis should I decide what to do? For example, if I point a gun at my head and pull the trigger, it looks like Everett's theory entails that I am certain to survive—and that I am certain to die. This is at least worrying, and perhaps rationally disabling." In his book "Quantum Ontology", Lewis explains that for the subjective immortality argument to be drawn out of the many-worlds theory, one has to adopt an understanding of probability - the so-called "branch-counting" approach, in which an observer can meaningfully ask "which post-measurement branch will I end up on?" - that is ruled out by experimental, empirical evidence as it would yield probabilities that do not match with the well-confirmed Born rule. Lewis identifies instead in the Deutsch-Wallace decision-theoretic analysis the most promising (although still, to his judgement, incomplete) way of addressing probabilities in the many-worlds interpretation, in which it is not possible to count branches (and, similarly, the persons that "end up" on each branch). Lewis concludes that "[t]he immortality argument is perhaps best viewed as a dramatic demonstration of the fundamental conflict between branch-counting (or person-counting) intuitions about probability and the decision theoretic approach. The many-worlds theory, to the extent that it is viable, does not entail that you should expect to live forever." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48685 | 393,515 |
190,250 | It was the Nakajima firm's own-designed displacement, Ha-45 Homare ("Praise" or "Honor") air-cooled eighteen-cylinder radial engine, first accepted for military use in 1941, that gave the "Hayate" its high speed and prowess in combat. Derived from the Nakajima Homare engines common to many Japanese aircraft, the "Hayate" used the Homare 21 direct-injection version of the engine, using water injection to aid the supercharger in giving the Ki-84 a rated 1,491 kW (2,000 hp) at takeoff. This combination theoretically gave it a climb rate and top speed roughly competitive with the top Allied fighters. Initial "Hayate" testing at Tachikawa in early summer 1943 saw test pilot Lieutenant Funabashi reach a maximum level airspeed of 624 km/h (387 mph) in the second prototype. In 1946, US Technical Intelligence tested a Homare Model 21-engined Hayate and achieved a speed of 687 km/h (427 mph) at 20,000 feet using 92 octane AvGas, plus methanol injection. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1091403 | 190,153 |
546,223 | This imbalance was slowly addressed after 1942 as the Army's size was reduced. Most of the units that were disbanded were Militia arms corps units, and by September 1943 the AIF outnumbered the Militia, having 265,000 members compared to just over 117,000. Further reductions came in October 1943 when the Army's strength was further reduced by 100,000 men to free up manpower to work in industry. At the end of 1943 the Army's strength was set at six infantry divisions and two armoured brigades, although further reductions were ordered in August 1944 and June 1945. By 1945 the support arms had grown considerably as a proportion of the total force and by August 1945 ordnance and the electrical and mechanical engineers totalled 42,835 men, while the artillery had been reduced to half its previous strength. Infantry, cavalry and armoured corps personnel numbered just 62,097 men, while engineers, signals and the medical services remained the same, albeit as part of a much smaller Army. Regardless, at the end of the war it remained one of the largest Allied armies as a proportion of population, being second only to the Soviet Union. The VDC was also reduced in size in May 1944, and was finally disbanded on 24 August 1945. If the conflict had continued past August 1945, the size of the Army would have been further reduced to three divisions once Bougainville, New Guinea and New Britain had been secured. Two of these divisions would have been used on garrison duties, while a brigade group may have been made available for British-led operations in South East Asia and the remaining division was to take part in the invasion of Japan. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=22738876 | 545,937 |
617,621 | A back-illuminated sensor contains the same elements, but arranges the wiring behind the photocathode layer by flipping the silicon wafer during manufacturing and then thinning its reverse side so that light can strike the photocathode layer without passing through the wiring layer. This change can improve the chance of an input photon being captured from about 60% to over 90%, (i.e. a 1/2 stop faster) with the greatest difference realised when pixel size is small, as the light capture area gained in moving the wiring from the top (light incident) to bottom surface (paraphrasing the BSI design) is proportionately smaller for a larger pixel. BSI-CMOS sensors are most advantageous in partial sun and other low light conditions. Placing the wiring behind the light sensors is similar to the difference between a cephalopod eye and a vertebrate eye. Orienting the active matrix transistors behind the photocathode layer can lead to a host of problems, such as crosstalk, which causes image noise, dark current, and color mixing between adjacent pixels. Thinning also makes the silicon wafer more fragile. These problems could be solved through improved manufacturing processes, but only at the cost of lower yields, and consequently higher prices. Despite these issues, early BI sensors found uses in niche roles where their better low-light performance was important. Early uses included industrial sensors, security cameras, microscope cameras and astronomy systems. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27647265 | 617,307 |
1,566,453 | Drake earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with an option in aeronautics from Stanford university in 1951. He began his aeronautical engineering career at North American Aviation in his hometown of Los Angeles, California. There he worked in the advanced design group as a principal engineer on a number of top secret record breaking experimental aircraft. Notable among his aircraft designs at North American were the X-15 rocket plane, which broke altitude and speed records for manned flight, and the B-70 high altitude bomber. He later worked for Rockwell and their division RAND Corporation. He helped found the think tank R&D Associates (RDA), a technical studies firm. His career took him to The Pentagon for various periods both directly and indirectly, part of which was associated with the development of improved Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and Tomahawk missiles during the Cold War of the 1960s and 70's. Drake retired from his aeronautical engineering career in 1998 after 47 years of elite level design work. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23117343 | 1,565,566 |
1,162,616 | To this day, building materials are simple and reflective of resources at hand. The usage of stone guss, a lime mixture derived from seashells and a chalk and water paste is characteristic of more permanent inland houses. The structure of such houses is indicative of privacy and ventilation as central needs of the population, with high walls and limited visibility into buildings. Courtyard housing features are still utilised, designed to allow public interaction between male members of the household while preserving dignity and privacy of female family members. This is an example of traditional societal standards being well preserved through architectural fixtures in less commercialised areas. Rural and village architecture in the UAE is solely based on protecting occupants from the harsh environmental elements and climate of the geographical area. At a basic level, protection is needed from high temperatures, high humidity, high solar radiation, dust storms and desert winds. This is heavily reflected in the traditional and current use of courtyard houses and "arish" (houses built of palm tree leaves). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60447339 | 1,161,999 |
1,551,740 | In the late 2000s RNC underwent significant restructuring as it responded to changes in the world of employment and therefore the courses that it offered its students. However, some of the college's changes provoked criticism from staff and students who argued these were not in RNC's best interest. There was some controversy over the college's decision to reduce the availability of courses in piano tuning, traditionally regarded as a secure profession for visually impaired people, while fears were expressed that the decrease in A Level subjects would lead to RNC becoming a sport rather than an academic orientated college. Responding to these concerns in July 2008, the then principal Christine Steadman told "In Touch", the BBC Radio 4 news programme for visually impaired listeners; "It's about what the local authorities, what the learning and skills council, what the Welsh Assembly for government will purchase from us. And at the moment we are reducing a small number of A Level courses but at the same time we're extending other courses, for example we've got level 3 Braille being taught for the first time at the college, we're not cutting A Levels, we're just responding to the needs of the learners that are coming through our doors." In an interview in January 2010, the then principal Geoff Draper said that piano tuning would be taught at the college if there was a demand for it, and suggested RNC could look to bringing in international students to fill places. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5556351 | 1,550,859 |
159,195 | Following the "Civil War II" storyline, Cho, in his Hulk form, had finished some rescuing in Kentucky when he is approached by Ms. Marvel, Nova, and Spider-Man II into joining the Champions so that they can "put the world back together". Cho suggests that they also recruit Vision's daughter Viv, which they managed to do. Later, during a camping trip, the team is visited by the teenage version of Cyclops, who wants to join them. After the others agree to recruit him, Hulk is later seen kissing Viv in the forest. They later head to Lasibad, Sharzad to help a group of women and girls that are being gunned down by terrorists. After rescuing a small group, they form a plan to drive the oppressors away. After their victory, the team argues over who should be the leader when their ship gets hit by a bazooka. Upon surviving the crash, Hulk and Cyclops propel the vehicle forward because Viv saw land. Unfortunately, the 'land' they saw turned out to be an Atlantean ship and they were kidnapped. They manage to break free of their captors, escape the ship and fly away. But somewhere else, the Champions also inspired another well-known, but troublesome hero: Gwenpool. They later appear in a small town that is experiencing a wave of hate crimes. Gwenpool arrives to help them and they figure out that the town sheriff is responsible for the spread of the hate crimes. They later encounter the Freelancers, a group of super powered delinquents who were hired to tarnish the name of Champions. After being defeated, the Freelancers decide to do good but are later revealed to have bought the rights to the Champions name. While dealing with the fallout, the team learns that the Freelancers have been using the Champions name for financial purposes, until Nova posts a video online that convince the people to burn the Freelancers' merchandise. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=9945333 | 159,113 |
1,633,077 | The Biotechnology Regulatory Services program of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) agency within the USDA is concerned with protecting agriculture and the environment from potential pests under the Plant Protection Act of 2000 (part of the Agriculture Risk Protection Act) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Each transgenic event is regulated separately as the transgene insertion locus varies even when using identical constructs and host genotypes. This could result in different expression patterns or could affect the function of other endogenous genes within the host. The USDA is responsible for approving field trials of GM plants under either the notification or permit procedures. The notification procedure is a streamlined process for the simplest or most familiar genetically engineered plants that meet six criteria (is not a noxious weed, the function of the genetic material is known and characterized, stable integration, no significant risk of creating new viruses and that no animal or human pathogen sequences are present). Most field trials are approved under the notification procedure. The permit procedure is much more elaborate and is required for all genetically engineered organisms that do not meet the notification requirements or any plant-made pharmaceuticals or plant-made industrial products. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=23135486 | 1,632,155 |
671,954 | The GC-EI-MS can be incorporated for the analysis of biological fluids for several applications. One example is the determination of thirteen synthetic pyrethroid insecticide molecules and their stereoisomers in whole blood. This investigation used a new rapid and sensitive electron ionization-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method in selective ion monitoring mode (SIM) with a single injection of the sample. All the pyrethroid residues were separated by using a GC-MS operated in electron ionization mode and quantified in selective ion monitoring mode. The detection of specific residues in blood is a difficult task due to their very low concentration since as soon as they enter the body most of the chemicals may get excreted. However, this method detected the residues of different pyrethroids down to the level 0.05–2 ng/ml. The detection of this insecticide in blood is very important since an ultra-small quantity in the body is enough to be harmful to human health, especially in children. This method is a very simple, rapid technique and therefore can be adopted without any matrix interferences. The selective ion monitoring mode provides detection sensitivity up to 0.05 ng/ml. Another application is in protein turnover studies using GC-EI-MS. This measures very low levels of d-phenylalanine which can indicate the enrichment of amino acid incorporated into tissue protein during studies of human protein synthesis. This method is very efficient since both free and protein-bound d-phenylalanine can be measured using the same mass spectrometer and only a small amount of protein is needed (about 1 mg). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=340284 | 671,602 |
2,039,470 | William Baldwin (March 29, 1779 – September 1, 1819) was an American physician and botanist who is today remembered for his significant contributions to botanical studies, especially Cyperaceae. He lived in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Georgia, and served as a ship's surgeon on two voyages overseas. He published only two scientific papers, but his major contributions were in the knowledge that he imparted to other botanists in his letters to them and in the thousands of specimens that he provided for their herbaria. He wrote letters to Henry Muhlenberg, Stephen Elliott, William Darlington, Zaccheus Collins, and others. His most important collections were from Georgia, Florida, and eastern South America. When he died, he left a large herbarium that proved to be of great value, especially to Lewis David von Schweinitz, John Torrey, and Asa Gray. He had a special interest in the plant family Cyperaceae and his incomplete, unpublished manuscripts were a major source for monographs by John Torrey and Asa Gray. The historian Joseph Ewan has said that "Baldwin's treatment of a number of genera, especially in the Cyperaceae, showed penetrating observation, understanding, and diagnosis". The genus "Balduina" was named for him by Thomas Nuttall. Most of what we know of him is from the biography written by his friend, William Darlington, in 1843. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=22869183 | 2,038,291 |
752,439 | Two diametrically opposed anti-slavery positions emerged regarding the United States Constitution. The Garrisonians emphasized that the document permitted and protected slavery, and was therefore "an agreement with hell" that had to be rejected in favor of immediate emancipation. Lincoln deeply supported the Constitution and rejected this position. Instead he adopted and promoted the mainstream anti-slavery position of the new Republican party. It argued that the Constitution could and should be used to eventually end slavery but meanwhile the Constitution gave the government no authority to abolish slavery directly. However there were multiple tactics available to support the long-term strategy of using the Constitution as a battering ram against the peculiar institution. First Congress could block the admission of any new slave states. That would steadily move the balance of power in Congress and the electoral college in favor of freedom. Congress could abolish slavery in the District of Columbia and the territories. Congress could use the Commerce Clause to end the interstate slave trade, thus crippling the steady movement of slavery from the economically stagnant southeast to the growing southwest. Congress could recognize free blacks as full citizens, and insist on due process rights to protect fugitive slaves from being captured and returned to bondage. Finally the government could use patronage powers to promote the anti-slavery cause across the country, especially in the border states. Pro-slavery elements considered the Republican strategy to be much more dangerous to their cause than radical abolitionism. Lincoln's election was met by secession. Indeed the Republican strategy mapped the "crooked path to abolition" that prevailed during the Civil War. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1345874 | 752,037 |
1,038,335 | The Galicia-Trás-os-Montes Zone is a bean-shaped tectonic unit in the northwest corner of Spain and northeast Portugal (Trás-os-Montes). It has also been called the allochthonous complexes. The zone consists of a nappe stack which is highly metamorphosed. It was formed by the collision of the Iberian Plate with a thinned piece of crust from another continent called the Meguma terrane. There are five units in the stack. At the lowest level are high pressure, low temperature metamorphosed rocks. Second is an ophiolite. Third is the lower part of a continental crust which has been metamorphosed to high temperature with high pressure. Fourth is a layer of sediments derived from weathering land with low-grade metamorphism. There is also an underlying Ediacaran and early Paleozoic layer called the autochthenous sequence. Metamorphism of the allochthenous nappe occurred 390–380 Ma in the Middle Devonian. This is possibly from the Rheic Ocean. Finally, above this are other schists called the schistose domain of Galicia-Trás-os-Montes or Para-autochthenon. There are five oval shaped masses of mafic to ultramafic rocks making up the ophiolite. These are the Cabo Ortegal, Ordes, Lalín, Bragança and Morais Massifs. Each of these are in a syncline and are surrounded by Silurian metamorphic rocks with an inward-dipping thrust zone forming the boundary. The kinds of rock in the mafic massifs are schists, gneiss, amphibolite, metagabbro, granulite, eclogite, and serpentine. The Ordes Massif dates from 380 to 390 Ma, and represents part of the Rheno-Hercynian Ocean as part of an accretionary wedge. It became joined to the European Hunic Terrane between the Channel Block and the allochthenous nappe. It has a corresponding block, the Lizard complex in southwest England. The Cabo Ortegal complex is dated around 345–340 Ma and is the remains of a Paleo-Tethys Ocean mid-oceanic ridge | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13701070 | 1,037,794 |
1,064,440 | The AGH UST has more than 800 laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art apparatus, including the transmission electron microscope Titan Cubed G-2 60-300, devices requiring the so-called clean room conditions, nanotechnology and material nanodiagnostics equipment, a computed tomography scanner to study construction materials, an electron microprobe Jeol SuperProbe JXA-8230 that facilitates the determination of elemental contents from boron to uranium in all kinds of solid substances, mass spectrometers, diffractometers, 3D printers for prototype creation, numerous appliances for environmental tests, microscopes for microstructure parameter analyses and measurements, as well as various types of laboratory installations (including a fully functional production line in the Industry 4.0 Laboratory or a singing Tesla coil in the High Voltage Laboratory). The AGH UST has one of the quietest places in Poland – an anechoic chamber, as well as the Experimental Mine, which is unique in Poland and one of the few such research and educational laboratories in Europe, and also serves as a museum. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1098154 | 1,063,886 |
1,267,969 | Ye has received numerous awards in the field of science, particularly AMO physics. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. He won the Adolph Lomb Medal of OSA in 1999 and the Arthur S. Flemming Award for outstanding federal employees in 2005, the Friedrich Wilhem Bessel Research Award from Germany and the William F. Meggers Award of the Optical Society of America in 2006, and the Carl Zeiss Research Award and the I. I. Rabi Prize in AMO Physics from the APS in 2007. He has won three Gold Medals from the US Department of Commerce: for frequency combs (2001), ultracold molecules (2011), and atomic clocks (2014). He won the Samuel Wesley Stratton Award in 2006 and Jacob Rabinow applied research award in 2017 from NIST. In 2011 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and also named a Frew Fellow from the Australian Academy of Science. In 2015, President Obama selected Jun Ye to receive a Presidential Rank Award for “sustained extraordinary accomplishment”, citing his work advancing "the frontier of light-matter interaction and focusing on precision measurement, quantum physics and ultracold matter, optical frequency metrology, and ultrafast science." In 2017, Ye was elected as a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Jun Ye was the recipient of the 2019 Norman F. Ramsey Prize in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, and in Precision Tests of Fundamental Laws and Symmetries for his ground-breaking contributions to precision measurements and the quantum control of atomic and molecular systems, including atomic clocks. He was awarded the 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=48647049 | 1,267,279 |
1,466,272 | The first edition of "The Merck Manual" was published in 1899 by Merck & Co., Inc. for physicians and pharmacists and was titled "Merck’s Manual of the Materia Medica". The 192 page book which sold for US $1.00, was divided into three sections, Part I (“Materia Medica”) was an alphabetical listing of all known compounds thought to be of therapeutic value with uses and doses; Part II (“Therapeutic Indications”) was an alphabetical compendium of symptoms, signs, and diseases with a list of all known treatments; and Part III (“Classification of Medicaments "(sic)" According to their Physiologic Actions”) was a listing of therapeutic agents according to their method of action or drug classification. Many of the terms used are now considered archaic, such as abasia, astasia, errhines and rubefacients - sternutatories, and many of the agents listed are now not considered to be standard therapeutic agents but were considered useful at the time, including poisonous compounds such as mercury, lead, strychnine and arsenic. There were 108 remedies listed for indigestion (dyspepsia), including alcohol, arsenic, cocaine, gold chloride, mercury, morphine, nux vomica, opium, silver nitrate, strychnine, and “Turkish baths (for malaise after dining out)”. Bismuth, calcium, magnesium salts were also on the list, which are ingredients found in many modern gastrointestinal treatments available today. Arsenic was recommended for over 100 illnesses including anemia, diarrhea, hydrophobia, elephantiasis, and impotence. The formulas include “aletris cordial”, a “uterine tonic and restorative”, which contained “aletris farinosa or True Unicorn combined with aromatics”. The manufacturer, Rio Chemicals of St. Louis was clear to differentiate the inclusion of true unicorn rather than false unicorn in its preparation. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1136647 | 1,465,449 |
672,446 | The 1986 SQL standard basically adopted Codd's proposal after an implementation prototype in IBM System R. Although Don Chamberlin recognized nulls (alongside duplicate rows) as one of the most controversial features of SQL, he defended the design of Nulls in SQL invoking the pragmatic arguments that it was the least expensive form of system support for missing information, saving the programmer from many duplicative application-level checks (see semipredicate problem) while at the same time providing the database designer with the option not to use Nulls if they so desire; for example, in order to avoid well known anomalies (discussed in the semantics section of this article). Chamberlin also argued that besides providing some missing-value functionality, practical experience with Nulls also led to other language features which rely on Nulls, like certain grouping constructs and outer joins. Finally, he argued that in practice Nulls also end up being used as a quick way to patch an existing schema when it needs to evolve beyond its original intent, coding not for missing but rather for inapplicable information; for example, a database that quickly needs to support electric cars while having a miles-per-gallon column. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2002540 | 672,094 |
135,871 | The HPV vaccination programme in Ireland is part of the national strategy to protect females from cervical cancer. Since 2009, the Health Service Executive has offered the HPV vaccine, free of charge, to all girls from first year onwards (ages 12–13). Secondary schools began implementing the vaccine program on an annual basis from September 2010 onwards. The programme was expanded to include males in 2019. Two HPV vaccines are licensed for use in Ireland: Cervarix and Gardasil. To ensure high uptake, the vaccine is administered to teenagers aged 12–13 in their first year of secondary school, with the first dose administered between September–October and the final dose in April of the following year. Males and females aged 12–13 who are outside of the traditional school setting (home school, etc.) are invited to Health service Executive clinics for their vaccines. HPV vaccination in Ireland in not mandatory and consent is obtained prior to vaccination. For males and females aged 16 and under, consent is granted by a parent or guardian, unless it is explicitly refused by the child. Any male or female aged 16 and over may provide their own consent if they want to be vaccinated. HIQA has stated the vaccine will provide further protection, particularly to men who have sex with men. The vaccine has been extended following evidence that 25% of HPV cancers occur in men. Additionally, HIQA is aiming to replace the current vaccination, which covers 4 major HPV strains, with an updated vaccine providing protection from 9 strains. The over cost with the "gender-neutral nine-talent" vaccine is estimated to be nearly €11.66 million over the next five years. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3304705 | 135,816 |
369,197 | This is the second stage of team development, where the group starts to sort itself out and gain each others' trust. This stage often starts when they voice their opinions; conflict may arise between team members as power and status are assigned. When group members start to work with each other they start to learn about individual working styles and what it is like to work with each other as a team; it also identifies the hierarchy of positions in the group. At this stage there is often a positive and polite atmosphere, people are pleasant to each other, and they may have feelings of excitement, eagerness and positiveness. Others may have feelings of suspicion, fear and anxiety. The leader of the team will then describe the tasks to the group, describe the different behaviours to the group and how to deal and handle complaints. In this stage "...participants form opinions about the character and integrity of the other participants and feel compelled to voice these opinions if they find someone shirking responsibility or attempting to dominate. Sometimes participants question the actions or decision of the leader as the expedition grows harder..." Disagreements and personality clashes must be resolved before the team can progress out of this stage, and so some teams may never emerge from "storming" or re-enter that phase if new challenges or disputes arise. In Tuckman's 1965 paper, only 50% of the studies identified a stage of intragroup conflict, and some of the remaining studies jumped directly from stage 1 to stage 3. Some groups may avoid the phase altogether, but for those who do not, the duration, intensity and destructiveness of the "storms" can be varied. Tolerance of each team member and their differences should be emphasized; without tolerance and patience the team will fail. This phase can become destructive to the team and will lower motivation if allowed to get out of control. Some teams will never develop past this stage; however, disagreements within the team can make members stronger, more versatile, and able to work more effectively together. Supervisors during this phase may be more accessible, but tend to remain directive in their guidance of decision-making and professional behaviour. The team members will therefore resolve their differences and members will be able to participate with one another more comfortably. The ideal is that they will not feel that they are being judged, and will therefore share their opinions and views. Normally tension, struggle and sometimes arguments occur. This stage can also be upsetting. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1455978 | 369,004 |
1,570,346 | Brinster has spent his entire academic career at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine; from 1956 to 1960 as a veterinary student, from 1960 to 1964 as a postdoctoral fellow and PhD Candidate, and then continuing as a faculty member. He was appointed associate professor in 1966, professor in 1970, and the Richard King Mellon Professor of Reproductive Physiology in 1975, a position he still holds. In 1969 he founded the Veterinary Medical Scientist Training Program, the first and only combined VMD (DVM)/PhD program funded by the National Institutes of Health, serving as its Director until 1984. Since 1969 the Program has trained more than 100 combined degree graduates that serve in many senior positions throughout the country. From 1997 to 2007, he was Scientific Director of the Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research at the School of Veterinary Medicine. From 2007 to 2008, he was Founding Co-Director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the leading programs in the world. He trained more than 50 pre-doctoral and postdoctoral fellows in his laboratory and taught physiology to professional students in the School of Veterinary Medicine every year from 1964 to 2020. In 2020, the Ralph L. Brinster President’s Distinguished Professorship was established by the University of Pennsylvania to recognize the outstanding scientific contributions of Brinster. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13365910 | 1,569,458 |
1,922,678 | Based on the GM type A vehicle, the Silver Volt was produced in two versions, a pure electric (2) and a hybrid (12). These were originally to be produced in Puerto Rico but eventually the new plant ended up in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Initially projected to sell for $14,500.00, the car was offered in November 1982 at around $50,000, according to company literature. Projected performance: a top speed of 70 mph with a range in excess of 150 miles combining battery power with a gasoline-powered 10 KW rotary engine range extender. These numbers were later revised in 1981 to 65-100 miles on pure battery power and 85–120 miles using the APU. The same patented tri-polar lead cobalt batteries, incorporating an automatic watering system were used again as in all other EFP electric cars. Initially, the vehicle was to have a 150-volt system using an SCR controller with regenerative braking. Later the voltage was reported to be 144 volts. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=18298017 | 1,921,575 |
1,797,782 | In 1967, V.G. Veselago from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology considered the theoretical model of medium that known now as a metamaterial. However, physical experimentation did not occur until 33 years after the paper's publication due to lack of available materials and lack of sufficient computing power. It was not until the 1990s that materials and computing power became available to artificially produce the necessary structures. Veselago also predicted a number of electromagnetic phenomena that would be reversed including the refractive index. In addition, he is credited with coining the term "left handed material" for the present day metamaterial because of the anti-parallel behavior of the wave vector and other electromagnetic fields. Moreover, he noted that the material he was studying was a double negative material, as certain metamaterials are named today, because of the ability to simultaneously produce negative values for two important parameters, e.g. permittivity and permeability. In 1968, his paper was translated and published in English. He was nominated later for a Nobel prize. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26692522 | 1,796,773 |
1,788,159 | Not only did Grant believe that the island would be of strategic value to the Navy, particularly Samaná Bay, but also he sought to use it as a bargaining chip. By providing a safe haven for the freedmen, he believed that the exodus of black labor would force Southern whites to realize the necessity of such a significant workforce and accept their civil rights. Grant believed the island country would increase exports and lower the trade deficit. He hoped that U.S. ownership of the island would push Spain to abolish slavery in Cuba and Puerto Rico, and perhaps Brazil as well. On March 15, 1870, the Foreign Relations Committee, headed by Sen. Charles Sumner, recommended against treaty passage. Sumner, the leading spokesman for African American civil rights, believed that annexation would be enormously expensive and involve the U.S. in an ongoing civil war, and would threaten the independence of Haiti and the West Indies, thereby blocking black political progress. On May 31, 1870, Grant went before Congress and urged passage of the Dominican annexation treaty. Strongly opposed to ratification, Sumner successfully led the opposition in the Senate. On June 30, 1870, the Santo Domingo annexation treaty failed to pass the Senate; 28 votes in favor of the treaty and 28 votes against. Grant's own cabinet was divided over the Santo Domingo annexation attempt, and Bancroft Davis, assistant to Sec. Hamilton Fish, was secretly giving information to Sen. Sumner on state department negotiations. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=61305749 | 1,787,153 |
2,138,862 | Support for airport expansion is based on an economic case that regards the air transport industry not only as an important industry in its own right, but also as a facilitator of growth for the economy as a whole. One study predicts that the government's strategy will realise an additional £13 billion per annum in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030. Another study which is critical of the government approach, and which favours addressing environmental effects through increased taxation of air transport, indicates a negative economic benefit resulting from airport expansion. In 2006 the industry was responsible for over 6 per cent of all UK carbon emissions, a figure that is set to rise as demand increases. Under current strategies of emissions reduction and growth in air transport, air travel in the UK could account for up to 50 per cent of the UK carbon budget by 2050. Industry attempts to address this issue are longer term efforts based on technological and operational improvements, whilst government policy is based on the inclusion of air transport within emissions trading schemes. Critics advocate a shift in government policy to address environmental effects by constraining the growth in demand for air travel, primarily through the use of economic instruments to price air travel less attractively. Local environmental issues include noise and air quality, and the effects of these, particularly in the case of the former, is subject to debate. Government policy generally is that these are local issues best addressed locally, and has introduced legislation designed to facilitate this. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14120583 | 2,137,632 |
2,019,824 | Calling patterns of mobile phone users can determine the socioeconomic standings of the populace which can be used to deduce "its access to housing, education, healthcare, and basic services such as water and electricity". Researchers from Columbia University and Karolinska Institute utilize information from mobile phone providers, in order to assist in the dispersal of resources by deducing the movement of those displaced by natural disasters. Big data can also provide information on looming disasters and can assist relief organizations in rapid response and locating displaced individuals. By analyzing certain patterns within this 'big data', could successively transform the response to destructive occurrences like natural disasters, outbreaks of diseases and global economic distress, by employing real-time information to achieve a comprehension of the welfare of individuals. Corporations utilize digital services, such as human sensor systems to detect and solve impending problems within communities. This is a strategy implemented by the private sector in order to protect its citizens by anonymously dispersing customer information to the public sector, whilst also ensuring the protection of their privacy. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49882988 | 2,018,661 |
236,394 | The University of Utah was one of the original four nodes of ARPANET, the world's first packet-switched network and embryo of the current worldwide Internet. The School of Computing produced many of the early pioneers in computer science and graphics, including Turing Award winner Alan Kay, Pixar founder Ed Catmull, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, and Adobe founder John Warnock. Notable innovations of computer science faculty and alumni include the first method for representing surface textures in graphical images, the Gouraud shading model, magnetic ink printing technology, the Johnson counter logic circuit, the oldest algebraic mathematics package still in use (REDUCE), the Phong reflection model, the Phong shading method, and the rendering equation. Through the movement of Utah graduates and faculty, research at the University spread outward to laboratories like Xerox Parc, JPL, and the New York Institute of Technology. Present graphics research is focused on biomedical applications for visualization, scientific computing, and image analysis at the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=32097 | 236,275 |
2,237,311 | The #2-ranked Denver Pioneers, a team Pearson said "[has] more balance and ... experience than the three teams we've seen so far", visited Michigan Tech the last weekend of October. The teams traded goals in the opening minutes of the Friday game, then Huskies forwards Milos Gordic, who played in his first two games of the year after recovering from shoulder surgery, and Ryan Furne scored 16 seconds apart midway through the first period. Furne collided with and injured Denver goaltender Adam Murray after scoring, forcing coach George Gwozdecky to substitute Juho Olkinuora. In the second period, Gordic scored a power play goal and Josh Robinson stopped all 21 Pioneers shots. Gwozdecky pulled Olkinuora with seven minutes left in the game, and Gordic completed his hat trick on an empty net a minute later. The Denver goal remained undefended for a few more minutes – "to try to work on our six-on-five situations", Gwozdecky said – and Brett Olson and Dennis Rix scored on the empty net. Denver added a late goal for a 7–2 final score. Robinson stopped 38 of 40 shots. The next evening, Gordic and Denver forward Jason Zucker traded goals in an "open, fast-paced first period [that] gave way to a choppy, penalty-filled second period". The Pioneers took the lead on a second-period power play, then Olson beat Olkinuora off a rebound in the third period. The game went to overtime, but Tanner Kero was unable to convert either of two scoring opportunities late in the five-minute period. Michigan Tech earned three of four possible points with the win and tie, and Gordic and Robinson were named WCHA Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week, respectively. Pearson said after the series, "If we [continue to] play like that we're going to win a lot of hockey games." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34618144 | 2,236,040 |
308,098 | The original idea was talked about late one Friday night in early 1963 in a Wimpy bar in Ealing in West London by three amateur radio enthusiasts after they had been to their weekly Greenford radio club meeting, Dudley Craven's call sign was G3PUN, Ken Bran's was G3UDC, and Ken Underwood's was G3SDW. As of Dudley's death in 1998 and Bran's death in 2018, the only original individual is Ken Underwood. The first six production units were assembled in the garden sheds of Bran, Craven, and Underwood in the same year, in Heston, Hanwell and Hayes, all in West London. They were almost copies of the Bassman circuit, with American military-surplus 5881 power valves, a relative of the 6L6. Few speakers then were able to handle more than 15 watts, which meant that an amplifier approaching 50 watts had to use multiple speakers to handle the power. For their Bassman, Fender used four ten-inch Jensen speakers in the same cabinet as the amplifier, but Marshall chose to separate the amplifier from the speakers, and placed four 12-inch Celestion speakers in a separate closed-back cabinet instead of Fender's four 10-inch Jensens in an open-back combo. Other crucial differences included the use of higher-gain ECC83 valves throughout the preamplifier, and the introduction of a capacitor/resistor filter after the volume control. These circuit changes gave the amp more gain so that it broke into overdrive sooner on the volume control than the Bassman, and boosted the treble frequencies. This new amplifier, tentatively called the "Mark II", was eventually named the "JTM 45", after Jim and his son Terry Marshall and the maximum wattage of the amplifier. Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and other blues rock-based bands from the late 1960s such as Free used Marshall stacks both in the studio and live on stage making them among the most sought after and most popular amplifiers in the industry. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1423388 | 307,933 |
80,642 | Gun-mortars are breech-loaded mortars usually equipped with a hydraulic recoil mechanism, and sometimes equipped with an autoloader. They are usually mounted on an armored vehicle and are capable of direct fire. The archetypes are the Brandt Mle CM60A1 and Brandt 60 mm LR, which combine features of modern infantry mortars together with those of modern cannon. Such weapons are most commonly smoothbore, firing fin-stabilised rounds, using relatively small propellant charges in comparison to projectile weight. They have short barrels in comparison to guns and are much more lightly built than guns of a similar calibre – all characteristics of infantry mortars. This produces a hybrid weapon capable of engaging area targets with indirect high-angle fire, and also specific targets such as vehicles and bunkers with direct fire. Such hybrids are much heavier and more complicated than infantry mortars, superior to rocket-propelled grenades in the anti-armour and bunker-busting role, but have a reduced range compared to modern gun-howitzers and inferior anti-tank capability compared to modern anti-tank guided weapons. However, they do have a niche in, for example, providing a multi-role anti-personnel, anti-armour capability in light mobile formations. Such systems, like the Soviet 120 mm 2S9 Nona, are mostly self-propelled (although a towed variant exists). The AMOS (Advanced Mortar System) is an example of an even more advanced gun mortar system. It uses a 120 mm automatic twin-barrelled, breech-loaded mortar turret, which can be mounted on a variety of armored vehicles and attack boats. A modern example of a gun-mortar is the 2B9 Vasilek. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=324499 | 80,609 |
1,898,603 | In this continuous challenge through the years, next to infective diseases and other illnesses afflicting modern human society, cancer recently represents one of the most enigmatical ailments. Scientists are investigating if neoplastic diseases are restricted to postindustrial human society or if their origins can be found further back in time, maybe into prehistory. The difficulty is that cancer, lethal and fast, leaves very few indications in skeletons in those cases that succumb to death shortly, and even no signs of existence at all, in the case of extraskeletal tumours. Anyway, the knowledge about the aetiology of cancer is incomplete and microorganisms are taking their part with the role of their infection: migration movements in the past could have brought with them viruses, so possible reservoir of tropical disease as well as predisposition to cancer. For this reason, molecular analytical techniques are applied to archaeological remains to study hominin evolution, but also to improve the research in understanding the epidemiology and aetiology of tumours. Information derived from the aDNA can be used to anchor pathogen mutations and reconstruct back from the presence of microorganisms the evolutionary process, it can be useful to develop new vaccines or to discover possible future pathogenic threats. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=62084336 | 1,897,519 |
51,276 | In early 1994, the film was in pre-production with Christopher "Fangorn" Baker as concept artist, and Sara Maitland assisting on the story, which gave it "a feminist fairy-tale focus". Maitland said that Kubrick never referred to the film as "A.I.", but as "Pinocchio". Chris Cunningham became the new visual effects supervisor. Some of his unproduced work for "A.I." can be seen on the DVD, "The Work of Director Chris Cunningham". Aside from considering computer animation, Kubrick also had Joseph Mazzello do a screen test for the lead role. Cunningham helped assemble a series of "little robot-type humans" for the David character. "We tried to construct a little boy with a movable rubber face to see whether we could make it look appealing," producer Jan Harlan reflected. "But it was a total failure, it looked awful." Hans Moravec was brought in as a technical consultant. Meanwhile, Kubrick and Harlan thought "A.I." would be closer to Steven Spielberg's sensibilities as director. Kubrick handed the position to Spielberg in 1995, but Spielberg chose to direct other projects, and convinced Kubrick to remain as director. The film was put on hold due to Kubrick's commitment to "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=142224 | 51,256 |
1,227,760 | Each of the camera bays was designed to carry different cameras for specific tasks on reconnaissance missions. The forward bay held a 150 mm (6") focal length serial frame camera (KS-87) on a two position rotating mount which could direct the camera's view straight down or be moved to a 45° angle for a forward oblique view. The second bay or middle bay of the TARPS pod originally held the 230 mm (9") focal length KA-99 panoramic camera which rotated from horizon to horizon and could be used for side oblique photography. Each image in the wide field of view position produced a 91 cm (36") negative. The KA-99 could carry up to of film that could be exhausted if not managed carefully by the RIO. The third camera bay held an infrared line scanner camera used for night missions or daylight mission traces. All TARPS cameras were monitored by a device call a CIPDU in the tail cone section of the pod that provided camera status to maintenance personnel and during flight provided aircraft position data onto the camera imagery for intel analysis. An electrical umbilical cord connected the pod to the control panel that was positioned on the left side of the rear cockpit. A hose from the ECS from the F-14 cooled/heated the internals of the pod in flight and kept the appropriate humidity levels constant. In 1987 VF-111 was the first squadron to deploy with a KS-153 camera system in bay two. The KS-153 used a 610 mm (24") lens and was used for stand-off photography in the Persian Gulf. During Operation Desert Shield the KS-153 was used to monitor the no fly zones in Iraq. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4219048 | 1,227,098 |
341,299 | "Dilophosaurus" bore a pair of high, thin, and arched (or plate-shaped) crests longitudinally on the skull roof. The crests (termed the nasolacrimal crests) began as low ridges on the premaxillae and were mainly formed by the upwards expanded and . These bones were coossified together (fusion during bone tissue formation), so the sutures between them cannot be determined. The lacrimal bone expanded into a thick, rugose boss, forming an arc at the upper front border of the orbit (eye socket), and supported the bottom of the back of the crest. Uniquely for this genus, the rim above the orbit continued hindwards and ended in a small, almost triangular process behind the orbit, which curved slightly outwards. Since only a short part of the upper surface of this process is unbroken, the rest of the crest may have risen above the skull over a distance of ~. The preserved part of the crest in UCMP 77270 is tallest around the midpoint of the antorbital fenestra's length. UCMP 77270 preserves the concave shelf between the bases of the crests, and when seen from the front, they projected upwards and to the sides at an ~80° angle. Welles found the crests reminiscent of a double-crested cassowary, while Marsh and Rowe stated they were probably covered in keratin or keratinized skin. They pointed out that by comparison with helmeted guineafowl, the keratin on the crests of "Dilophosaurus" could have enlarged them much more than what is indicated by the bone. As only one specimen preserves much of the crests, whether they differed between individuals is unknown. CT scans show that air sacs (pockets of air that provide strength for and lighten bones) were present in the bones that surrounded the brain, and were continuous with the sinus cavities in the front of the skull. The antorbital fenestra was continuous with the side of the crests, which indicates the crests also had air sacs (a ridge of bone forms a roof over the antorbital fenestrae in most other theropods). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=444541 | 341,118 |
1,768,441 | It is primarily composed of an electronically commutated synchronous motor (ECM) with a permanent magnet rotor. The ECM is a motor that converts a direct current (DC) from an electrical source into an alternating current (AC) which is sent to the motor itself, allowing for increased efficiency over standard AC motors. The permanent magnet rotor consists of an iron core, surrounded by multiple magnetic rare earth metals, and finally a metal sleeve that evenly spaces the magnets around the core, which helps to drive the motor. By utilizing multiple small improvements in pump-design technology such as a double pump in parallel system and variable controls, these pumps are able to run at about a 50% to 70% increased efficiency with up to an 80% decrease in electricity consumption over the previous standard design. This pump has recently become the new standard in both commercial and residential buildings across the European Union due to a recent ordinance by the European ErP (Eco-Design) Directive. The ErP directive began enforcing this new standard of regulation of these pumps 1 January 2013 and will become even stricter on efficiency standards on 1 August 2015 in order to meet the EU's goal of a 50% total reduction in the pump's energy usage by 2020. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37215299 | 1,767,447 |
738,596 | The Kiso Observatory uses a 1.05m Schmidt telescope on Mt. Ontake near Tokyo in Japan. In late 2019 the Kiso Observatory added a new instrument to the telescope, "Tomo-e Gozen", designed to detect fast moving and rapidly changing objects. It has a wide field of view (20 square degrees) and scans the sky in just 2 hours, far faster than any other survey as of 2021. This puts it squarely in the warning survey category. In order to scan the sky so quickly, the camera captures 2 frames per second, which means the sensitivity is lower than other metre class telescopes (which have much longer exposure times), giving a limiting magnitude of just 18. However, despite not being able to see dimmer objects which are detectable by other surveys, the ability to scan the entire sky several times per night allows it to spot fast moving asteroids that other surveys miss. It has discovered a significant number of near earth asteroids as a result (for example see List of asteroid close approaches to Earth in 2021). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=58017976 | 738,205 |
1,302,346 | In 1738 Daniel Bernoulli published his "Hydrodynamica seu de viribus et motibus fluidorum commentarii". His theory of the motion of fluids, the germ of which was first published in his memoir entitled "Theoria nova de motu aquarum per canales quocunque fluentes", communicated to the academy of St Petersburg as early as 1726, was founded on two suppositions, which appeared to him conformable to experience. He supposed that the surface of the fluid, contained in a vessel which is emptying itself by an orifice, remains always horizontal; and, if the fluid mass is conceived to be divided into an infinite number of horizontal strata of the same bulk, that these strata remain contiguous to each other, and that all their points descend vertically, with velocities inversely proportional to their breadth, or to the horizontal sections of the reservoir. In order to determine the motion of each stratum, he employed the principle of the "conservatio virium vivarum", and obtained very elegant solutions. But in the absence of a general demonstration of that principle, his results did not command the confidence which they would otherwise have deserved, and it became desirable to have a theory more certain, and depending solely on the fundamental laws of mechanics. Colin Maclaurin and John Bernoulli, who were of this opinion, resolved the problem by more direct methods, the one in his "Fluxions", published in 1742, and the other in his "Hydraulica nunc primum detecta", "et demonstrata directe ex fundamentis pure mechanicis", which forms the fourth volume of his works. The method employed by Maclaurin has been thought not sufficiently rigorous; and that of John Bernoulli is, in the opinion of Lagrange, defective in clearness and precision. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=2206712 | 1,301,632 |
1,377,775 | Modern day atom probe tomography uses a position sensitive detector aka a FIM in a box to deduce the lateral location of atoms. The idea of the APT, inspired by J. A. Panitz's "Field Desorption Spectrometer" patent, was developed by Mike Miller starting in 1983 and culminated with the first prototype in 1986. Various refinements were made to the instrument, including the use of a so-called position-sensitive (PoS) detector by Alfred Cerezo, Terence Godfrey, and George D. W. Smith at Oxford University in 1988. The Tomographic Atom Probe (TAP), developed by researchers at the University of Rouen in France in 1993, introduced a multichannel timing system and multianode array. Both instruments (PoSAP and TAP) were commercialized by Oxford Nanoscience and CAMECA respectively. Since then, there have been many refinements to increase the field of view, mass and position resolution, and data acquisition rate of the instrument. The Local Electrode Atom Probe was first introduced in 2003 by Imago Scientific Instruments. In 2005, the commercialization of the pulsed laser atom probe (PLAP) expanded the avenues of research from highly conductive materials (metals) to poor conductors (semiconductors like silicon) and even insulating materials. AMETEK acquired CAMECA in 2007 and Imago Scientific Instruments (Madison, WI) in 2010, making the company the sole commercial developer of APTs with more than 110 instruments installed around the world in 2019. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=3211 | 1,377,013 |
1,142,024 | Chemists can search databases using parts of structures, parts of their IUPAC names as well as based on constraints on properties. Chemical databases are particularly different from other general purpose databases in their support for sub-structure search. This kind of search is achieved by looking for subgraph isomorphism (sometimes also called a monomorphism) and is a widely studied application of Graph theory. The algorithms for searching are computationally intensive, often of O ("n") or O ("n") time complexity (where "n" is the number of atoms involved). The intensive component of search is called atom-by-atom-searching (ABAS), in which a mapping of the search substructure atoms and bonds with the target molecule is sought. ABAS searching usually makes use of the Ullman algorithm or variations of it ("i.e." SMSD ). Speedups are achieved by time amortization, that is, some of the time on search tasks are saved by using precomputed information. This pre-computation typically involves creation of bitstrings representing presence or absence of molecular fragments. By looking at the fragments present in a search structure it is possible to eliminate the need for ABAS comparison with target molecules that do not possess the fragments that are present in the search structure. This elimination is called screening (not to be confused with the screening procedures used in drug-discovery). The bit-strings used for these applications are also called structural-keys. The performance of such keys depends on the choice of the fragments used for constructing the keys and the probability of their presence in the database molecules. Another kind of key makes use of hash-codes based on fragments derived computationally. These are called 'fingerprints' although the term is sometimes used synonymously with structural-keys. The amount of memory needed to store these structural-keys and fingerprints can be reduced by 'folding', which is achieved by combining parts of the key using bitwise-operations and thereby reducing the overall length. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=553787 | 1,141,430 |
5,901 | Botvinnik started an era of Soviet dominance in the chess world, which mainly through the Soviet government's politically inspired efforts to demonstrate intellectual superiority over the West stood almost uninterrupted for more than a half-century. Until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there was only one non-Soviet champion, American Bobby Fischer (champion 1972–1975). Botvinnik also revolutionized opening theory. Previously, Black strove for equality, attempting to neutralize White's first-move advantage. As Black, Botvinnik strove for the initiative from the beginning. In the previous informal system of World Championships, the current champion decided which challenger he would play for the title and the challenger was forced to seek sponsors for the match. FIDE set up a new system of qualifying tournaments and matches. The world's strongest players were seeded into Interzonal tournaments, where they were joined by players who had qualified from Zonal tournaments. The leading finishers in these Interzonals would go through the "Candidates" stage, which was initially a tournament, and later a series of knockout matches. The winner of the Candidates would then play the reigning champion for the title. A champion defeated in a match had a right to play a rematch a year later. This system operated on a three-year cycle. Botvinnik participated in championship matches over a period of fifteen years. He won the world championship tournament in 1948 and retained the title in tied matches in 1951 and 1954. In 1957, he lost to Vasily Smyslov, but regained the title in a rematch in 1958. In 1960, he lost the title to the 23-year-old Latvian prodigy Mikhail Tal, an accomplished tactician and attacking player who is widely regarded as one of the most creative players ever, hence his nickname "the magician from Riga". Botvinnik again regained the title in a rematch in 1961. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=5134 | 5,898 |
8,881 | Yale's secret society buildings (some of which are called "tombs") were built both to be private yet unmistakable. A diversity of architectural styles is represented: Berzelius, Donn Barber in an austere cube with classical detailing (erected in 1908 or 1910); Book and Snake, Louis R. Metcalfe in a Greek Ionic style (erected in 1901); Elihu, architect unknown but built in a Colonial style (constructed on an early 17th-century foundation although the building is from the 18th century); Mace and Chain, in a late colonial, early Victorian style (built in 1823). (Interior moulding is said to have belonged to Benedict Arnold);Manuscript Society, King-lui Wu with Dan Kiley responsible for landscaping and Josef Albers for the brickwork intaglio mural. Building constructed in a mid-century modern style; Scroll and Key, Richard Morris Hunt in a Moorish- or Islamic-inspired Beaux-Arts style (erected 1869–70); Skull and Bones, possibly Alexander Jackson Davis or Henry Austin in an Egypto-Doric style utilizing Brownstone (in 1856 the first wing was completed, in 1903 the second wing, 1911 the Neo-Gothic towers in rear garden were completed); St. Elmo, (former tomb) Kenneth M. Murchison, 1912, designs inspired by Elizabethan manor. Current location, brick colonial; and Wolf's Head, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, erected 1923–1924, Collegiate Gothic. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=34273 | 8,877 |
1,057,134 | Heavy transportation airplanes may occasionally have to cross a thunderstorm line associated with a cold front or a squall. They may not be able to overfly the cumulonimbus, because at 36,000 feet, the aircraft may be in or near what is known as the coffin corner (stall speed is close to speed of sound), thus making it structurally dangerous to climb higher. However, some cells can rise to 70,000 feet. Another option would be to navigate around the cells. This is strongly discouraged, however, because in the opening, new cells can grow very rapidly and engulf the aircraft. Whenever an aircraft moves to the west and crosses a thunderstorm line, the pilot will first encounter a line of powerful and laminar updraughts (that are not thermal but dynamic). The pilot should refrain from pushing the stick to try to maintain a constant altitude (similar to mountain waves), because pushing the stick can cause the airspeed to increase to the point of hitting the yellow arc (on the airspeed indicator). An airspeed this high is not permissible in turbulent conditions and may lead to break-up of the aircraft. When the pilot exits the updraught zone, he will encounter very strong turbulence due to the shear between rising and sinking air. If the airspeed is too high at this point, the airplane will break apart. The crash of Flight AF 447 is indirectly related to this situation: the pilot opted for the shortest path while crossing the thunderstorm line associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone, and the pitot tubes iced over. What followed is known. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=51560627 | 1,056,585 |
1,269,811 | While it would be later shown that this assumption is not entirely correct, it in fact ends up being rather close to the correct expression for the orbital angular momentum operator's (eigenvalue) quantum number for large values of the quantum number formula_3, and indeed this was part of Bohr's own assumption. Regard the consequence of Bohr's assumption formula_9, and compare it with the correct version known today as formula_10. Clearly for large formula_3, there is little difference, just as well as for formula_12, the equivalence is exact. Without going into further historical detail, it suffices to stop here and regard this era of the history of quantization to be the "old quantum theory", meaning a period in the history of physics where the corpuscular nature of subatomic particles began to play an increasingly important role in understanding the results of physical experiments, whose mandatory conclusion was the discretization of key physical observable quantities. However, unlike the era below described as the era of first quantization, this era was based solely on purely classical arguments such as Wien's displacement law, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and the electromagnetic theory. In fact, the observation of the Balmer series of hydrogen in the history of spectroscopy dates as far back as 1885. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4490255 | 1,269,120 |
645,273 | On July 18, 1996, the United States and Israel entered into an agreement to produce a cooperative THEL, called the Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator, which would utilize deuterium fluoride chemical laser technologies. Primary among the four contractors awarded the project on September 30, 1996 was Northrop Grumman (formerly TRW). THEL conducted test firing in FY1998, and Initial Operating Capability (IOC) was planned in FY1999. However, this was significantly delayed due to reorienting the project as a mobile, not fixed, design, called Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL). The original fixed location design eliminates most weight, size and power restrictions, but is not compatible with the fluid, mobile nature of modern combat. The initial MTHEL goal was a mobile version the size of three large semi trailers. Ideally it would be further downsized to a single semi trailer size. However, doing this while maintaining the original performance characteristics is difficult. Furthermore, the Israeli government, which had been providing significant funding, decreased their financial support in 2004, postponing the IOC date to at least 2010. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=144755 | 644,933 |
1,398,813 | Type 1 episodic ataxia (EA1) is characterized by attacks of generalized ataxia induced by emotion or stress, with myokymia both during and between attacks. This disorder is also known as episodic ataxia with myokymia (EAM), hereditary paroxysmal ataxia with neuromyotonia and Isaacs-Mertens syndrome. Onset of EA1 occurs during early childhood to adolescence and persists throughout the patient's life. Attacks last from seconds to minutes. Mutations of the gene KCNA1, which encodes the voltage-gated potassium channel K1.1, are responsible for this subtype of episodic ataxia. K1.1 is expressed heavily in basket cells and interneurons that form GABAergic synapses on Purkinje cells. The channels aid in the repolarization phase of action potentials, thus affecting inhibitory input into Purkinje cells and, thereby, all motor output from the cerebellum. EA1 is an example of a synaptopathy. There are currently 17 K1.1 mutations associated with EA1, Table 1 and Figure 1. 15 of these mutations have been at least partly characterized in cell culture based electrophysiological assays wherein 14 of these 15 mutations have demonstrated drastic alterations in channel function. As described in Table 1, most of the known EA1 associated mutations result in a drastic decrease in the amount of current through K1.1 channels. Furthermore, these channels tend to activate at more positive potentials and slower rates, demonstrated by positive shifts in their V½ values and slower τ activation time constants, respectively. Some of these mutations, moreover, produce channels that deactivate at faster rates (deactivation τ), which would also result in decreased current through these channels. While these biophysical changes in channel properties likely underlie some of the decrease in current observed in experiments, many mutations also seem to result in misfolded or otherwise mistrafficked channels, which is likely to be the major cause of dysfunction and disease pathogenesis. It is assumed, though not yet proven, that decrease in K1.1 mediated current leads to prolonged action potentials in interneurons and basket cells. As these channels are important in the regulation of Purkinje cell activity, it is likely that this results increased and aberrant inhibitory input into Purkinje cells and, thus, disrupted Purkinje cell firing and cerebellum output. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=8064365 | 1,398,039 |
662,715 | g:Profiler is a widely used toolset for finding biological categories enriched in gene lists, conversions between gene identifiers and mappings to their orthologs. Mission of g:Profiler is to provide a reliable service based on up to date high quality data in a convenient manner across many evidence types, identifier spaces and organisms. g:Profiler relies on Ensembl as a primary data source and follows their quarterly release cycle while updating the other data sources simultaneously. g:Profiler provides modern responsive interactive web interface, standardised API, an R package gprofiler2 and libraries. The results are delivered through interactive and configurable interface. Results can be downloaded as publication ready visualisations or delimited text files. g:Profiler supports close to 500 species and strains, including vertebrates, plants, fungi, insects and parasites. By supporting user uploaded custom GMT files, g:Profiler is capable of analysing data from any organism. All past releases are maintained for reproducibility and transparency. g:Profiler is freely available for all users at https://biit.cs.ut.ee/gprofiler. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43780204 | 662,370 |
742,529 | In the late 1940s to early 1960s, the early days of making heavier and heavier transuranic elements, it was predicted that since such elements did not occur naturally, they would have shorter and shorter spontaneous fission half-lives, until they stopped existing altogether around element 108 (now called hassium). Initial work in synthesizing the heavier actinides seemed to confirm this. But the nuclear shell model, introduced in 1949 and extensively developed in the late 1960s by William Myers and Władysław Świątecki, stated that protons and neutrons form shells within a nucleus, analogous to electron shells. Noble gases are unreactive due to a full electron shell; similarly, it was theorized that elements with full nuclear shells – those having "magic" numbers of protons or neutrons – would be stabilized against decay. A doubly magic isotope, with magic numbers of both protons and neutrons, would be especially stabilized. Heiner Meldner calculated in 1965 that the next doubly magic isotope after Pb was Fl with 114 protons and 184 neutrons, which would be the centre of an "island of stability". This island of stability, supposedly from copernicium ("Z" = 112) to oganesson ("Z" = 118), would come after a long "sea of instability" from mendelevium ("Z" = 101) to roentgenium ("Z" = 111), and the flerovium isotopes in it were speculated in 1966 to have half-lives over 10 years. These early predictions fascinated researchers, and led to the first attempt to make flerovium, in 1968 with the reaction Cm(Ar,xn). No flerovium atoms were detected; this was thought to be because the compound nucleus Fl only has 174 neutrons instead of the supposed magic 184, and this would have significant impact on the reaction cross section (yield) and half-lives of nuclei produced. It was then 30 more years before flerovium was first made. Later work suggests the islands of stability around hassium and flerovium occur because these nuclei are respectively deformed and oblate, which make them resistant to spontaneous fission, and that the true island of stability for spherical nuclei occurs at around unbibium-306 (122 protons, 184 neutrons). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=77473 | 742,136 |
2,195,518 | Iranian physicians were familiar with the human plague for a long time. Although there is little information about the situation of plague from earlier centuries, we have more documented evidence from the 19th and 20th centuries. During the Qajar dynasty (1895 to 1925), cholera and plague were the most frequently documented outbreaks. Such lethal diseases were not hard to imagine considering the poor hygiene and lack of knowledge about the root of transmission, prevention and effective treatment of that time. Several plague outbreaks took place during the Qajar dynasty in Iran. In 1871, a severe form of plague outbreak happened in Saghez and Bane (two cities in Kurdistan province) and the Iranian and non-Iranian physicians, such as Dr. Johan Louis Schlimmer, the instructor in the Darolfonun School, were appointed to control this disease. Dr. Schlimmer noted his observations in his book, "Schlimmer's Terminology", published in 1874. The first Iranian physician who registered his observations about plague using modern medical science was Mohammad Razi Tabatabai, the senior physician in Naser al-Din Shah's army; his book was published under the title "Plague" in 1875. Dr. Joseph Desire Tholozan, (1820 to 1897), the royal physician of Naser Al-din Shah and the head of the ministry of health at that time, evaluated the main and natural foci of plague in Kurdistan between 1870 and 1882 and found certain foci for the disease in various villages of that area. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=49433785 | 2,194,268 |
614,099 | Code Name God is both an autobiography, chronicling significant events in its author's life in tandem with the revelations that accompanied them, and a contemplation on the astounding implications of quantum physics. In the author's words, "the surprising discovery of quantum physics that the primary source of everything in the universe is present in each minutest stitch of the fabric of space of this immensely vast cosmos empowers us to ponder the One Source of all creation. It is not merely a blind faith anymore. This ought to enable us to feel ourselves as an inextricable part of the One Source, which would significantly improve the quality of our lives." The book, which has enjoyed considerable success in Bhaumik's native India, has also drawn plaudits from recognized European scientists such as Professor Walter Thirring, the former director and head of the theory division at CERN, Geneva, who asserts in the foreword to its German edition, "Dr. Bhaumik's portrayal of a higher power embedded in the fabric of the universe and responsible for its continuing existence and operation is consistent with his reliance on the highly technical and mathematical intricacies of the Quantum Field Theory, an area of study to which I had the opportunity of making some significant contributions." Thirring and Bhaumik are among a still relatively small group of "hard scientists" who have openly acknowledged the spiritual implications of quantum physics and cosmology. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4877968 | 613,787 |
2,012,699 | The Hoyas returned home for a convincing come-from-behind win against IUPUI in which Hollis Thompson had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Henry Sims and Markel Starks came off the bench to score 14 and 13 points, respectively. Averaging 82 points a game on the season, they then went on the road again to begin December with their third game in 11 days against a ranked opponent, visiting No. 12 Alabama in an SEC–Big East Challenge game. Both teams mounted stingy defenses, but Georgetown's zone defense especially flummoxed Alabama, which missed its first 11 three-point attempts including all nine it attempted in the first half. Georgetown led 23–16 at halftime, Alabama scoring its fewest first-half points since a 16-point performance at Oklahoma State on December 18, 2010. In the second half, the Hoyas extended their lead to eight points, the largest deficit the Crimson Tide had faced all season. Alabama closed to a two-point deficit six times over the next few minutes and even took a brief one-point lead, but the Hoyas quickly took it back as Henry Sims scored seven consecutive points, followed by a Hollis Thompson three-pointer and a Jason Clark basket to give Georgetown a 54–45 lead with 2:57 left in the game. Alabama responded by scoring nine unanswered points, culminating in two free throws by sophomore guard Trevor Releford with 13 seconds left to give the Crimson Tide a 55–54 advantage, only its second lead of the second half. On the Hoyas′ following possession, Jason Clark dribbled down the court and passed the ball to Hollis Thompson, who sank a long three-pointer he launched from in front of the Georgetown bench, giving the Hoyas a last-second 57–55 upset win which broke a 24-game Crimson Tide home winning streak dating back almost two years. Jason Clark had a game-high 22 points, Henry Sims added 13 points, and Hollis Thompson had 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds, and the Hoya defense held the Crimson Tide to 3-of-16 (18.8%) shooting from three-point range. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=33673923 | 2,011,545 |
1,348,973 | The extensive find material from Rancho La Brea allows a comprehensive reconstruction of the body skeleton. The spine was composed of 7 cervical, 16 thoracic 8 to 9 lumbar, sacral, and 21 caudal vertebrae. The humerus was massive, the length was 46 cm, and the head did not stand out particularly clearly. A prominent bony ridge (deltopectoral groin) attached to the humeral shaft, but was less prominently developed in the upper part than in "Glossotherium". The lower end of the joint protruded widely laterally. An entepicondylar foramen, which occasionally occurred in some sloths, was not developed here. The ulna possessed a greatly expanded superior articular process, the olecranon. It grew to about 20 cm in length, the entire bone reaching 40 cm in length. The construction of the ulna appeared shorter and more robust than in "Glossotherium", the shaft was broad and narrowed above anteriorly and posteriorly. Likewise, the radius was short and massive with a length of 29.6 cm. The longest bone was represented by the femur at around 54.6 cm. Very short specimens from Rancho La Brea measured only 51 cm, very long 58 cm. The flat and broad design typical of ground sloths was striking, so that the bone appeared almost board-like. The head rose only slightly from the surface and had a more inward position. The shaft was slightly turned inward, and a third trochanter as a muscle attachment point, which appeared in "Lestodon", was not visible in "Paramylodon". With a length of 24.6 cm, the tibia was significantly shorter than the femur. This is a typical feature of mylodonts, in whose predominantly late representatives the lower section of the hind leg often reached only about half the length of the upper. In the case of "Paramylodon", the tibia had 45% of the femur length. Its shaft was flattened like that of the femur and likewise exhibited a slight twist. The upper end of the joint was laterally projecting, the width here reaching about three-quarters of the length of the total bone. The fibula was not fused to the tibia, reaching 26.3 cm in length. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=16886646 | 1,348,228 |
1,873,496 | Generally, manipulators (also called `robots' or `mechanisms') are mechanical devices that position and orientate objects. The position of an object in three-dimensional (3D) space can be specified by three numbers "X, Y, Z" known as 'coordinates.' In a Cartesian (named after René Descartes who introduced analytic geometry, the mathematical basis for controlling manipulators) the coordinates specify distances from three mutually perpendicular reference planes. The orientation of an object in 3D can be specified by three additional numbers corresponding to the orientation angles. The first manipulators were developed after World War II for the Argonne National Laboratory to safely handle highly radioactive material remotely. The first numerically controlled manipulators (NC machines) were developed by Parsons Corp. and the MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory, for milling applications. These machines position a cutting tool relative to a Cartesian coordinate system using three mutually perpendicular linear actuators (prismatic "P" joints), with "(PP)P" . The first industrial robot, Unimate, was invented in the 1950s. Its control axes correspond to a spherical coordinate system, with "RRP" joint topology composed of two in series with a prismatic "P" joint. Most industrial robots today are composed of a serial chain of revolute "R" joints "RRRRRR". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=66105018 | 1,872,419 |
2,094,380 | He was born at Gowanbank in Darvel in Ayrshire on 23 March 1867 the second son of Alexander Morton (1844–1923) and his wife, Jane (Jeannie) Wiseman. His father founded the weaving company of Alexander Morton & Company, employing 600 persons in the late 19th century. He was educated at Darvel School then Ayr Academy. He did not go to university and was trained as a chemist at Morton Sundour Mills in Carlisle, when his family purchased Denton Mills in that city. The company greatly expanded the use of Arts and Crafts designs in the late 19th century. James specialised in permanent light-fast dyes and moved to Scottish Dyes Limited around 1895. He went on to direct the dyestuffs section of ICI. Morton aimed to make 'fast dyes' that would not fade in sunlight , even if that meant sacrificing the variety of colours available to the consumer. He sent out sample test cards of dyed fabric (sample in Science Museum Collections ) to his brother-in-law, Patrick Fagan, who was working for the British colonial civil service in India, with instructions to leave the fabric exposed to direct sunlight for weeks and even months at a time. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=55510713 | 2,093,172 |
704,090 | Lowell was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1892. He moved back to the United States in 1893. He became determined to study Mars and astronomy as a full-time career after reading Camille Flammarion's "La planète Mars". He was particularly interested in the canals of Mars, as drawn by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, who was director of the Milan Observatory. The Boston geologist George Russel Agassiz noted that Lowell made the decision to begin his observations after hearing that Schiaparelli began to experience failing eyesight. Beginning in the winter of 1893–94, using his wealth and influence, Lowell dedicated himself to the study of astronomy, founding the observatory which bears his name. He chose Flagstaff, Arizona Territory, as the home of his new observatory. At an altitude of over , with few cloudy nights, and far from city lights, Flagstaff was an excellent site for astronomical observations. This marked the first time an observatory had been deliberately located in a remote, elevated place for optimal seeing which included enhanced image quality, sharpness and steadiness. At his Flagstaff observatory Lowell favored the use of smaller telescopes rather than larger ones, believing that they were usually better for viewing fine planetary details. He was assisted in setting up his observatory by William Pickering, another observer of Mars who had noted the lines seen by Schiaparelli as well. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24033 | 703,722 |
1,242,897 | As a land-grant university subject to the Morrill Act of 1862, male undergraduates were required to serve two hours per week for four years being trained in tactics, dismounted drill, marksmanship, camp duty, military engineering, and fortifications. In exchange for California's share of , North Hall housed an armory. In 1904, the service requirement was reduced to two years, and in 1917, Berkeley's ROTC unit was established. The university president's report from 1902 states, "The University Cadets from last year numbered no less than 866. Appointments as second lieutenants in the regular army have been conferred upon several men who have distinguished themselves as officers in the University Cadets. It is very much to be hoped that the War Department will establish permanently the policy of offering such appointments to the graduates of each year who show the highest ability in military pursuits." Commander Chester W. Nimitz established the Naval ROTC at Berkeley in the fall of 1926. Transferred in June 1929, Captain Nimitz left a unit of 150 midshipmen with a staff of six commissioned and six petty officers. Berkeley has produced 36 general and flag officers of the United States Armed Forces. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=20486122 | 1,242,224 |
69,355 | In 1905 a gold medal competition was sponsored by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters to investigate a method for measuring the surface tension of liquids that had been proposed by Lord Rayleigh in 1879. This involved measuring the frequency of oscillation of the radius of a water jet. Bohr conducted a series of experiments using his father's laboratory in the university; the university itself had no physics laboratory. To complete his experiments, he had to make his own glassware, creating test tubes with the required elliptical cross-sections. He went beyond the original task, incorporating improvements into both Rayleigh's theory and his method, by taking into account the viscosity of the water, and by working with finite amplitudes instead of just infinitesimal ones. His essay, which he submitted at the last minute, won the prize. He later submitted an improved version of the paper to the Royal Society in London for publication in the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=21210 | 69,328 |
1,811,159 | In the event, the industrial web theory failed to achieve its goals. Various targets were chosen and attacked serially, without evaluating the results in light of their interdependence. American bombing leaders maintained that precision attacks were being carried out, but in early 1944 poor weather over Europe prevented visual sighting, and bombs were dropped indiscriminately by inaccurate radar methods through cloud cover, resulting in general population destruction. By September 1944, all pretense to precision was abandoned when General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the area bombing of Berlin. By that time, bombing had become as much tactical as strategic, to soften Germany for invasion by ground troops. Thousand-bomber raids were not able to diminish industrial production of materiel in time to prevent invasion. When arms production in Germany finally faltered in the third quarter of 1944, only 30% of the total of eventual bomb tonnage had been dropped on the country—this "after" the French-German border had been reached and the war on the ground had seen its decisive breakthrough. Germany was conquered by invasion; it did not surrender solely because of bombing. The morale of the enemy was not significantly affected—no population that was bombed in World War II lost their will to resist, and it was the Emperor, not the people, who decided Japan must surrender. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=24980788 | 1,810,126 |
340,185 | Much of the historical debate about causes has focused on the relationship between communicative and other actions, between singular and repeated ones, and between actions, structures of action or group and institutional contexts and wider sets of conditions. John Gaddis has distinguished between exceptional and general causes (following Marc Bloch) and between "routine" and "distinctive links" in causal relationships: "in accounting for what happened at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, we attach greater importance to the fact that President Truman ordered the dropping of an atomic bomb than to the decision of the Army Air Force to carry out his orders." He has also pointed to the difference between immediate, intermediate and distant causes. For his part, Christopher Lloyd puts forward four "general concepts of causation" used in history: the "metaphysical idealist concept, which asserts that the phenomena of the universe are products of or emanations from an omnipotent being or such final cause"; "the empiricist (or Humean) regularity concept, which is based on the idea of causation being a matter of constant conjunctions of events"; "the functional/teleological/consequential concept", which is "goal-directed, so that goals are causes"; and the "realist, structurist and dispositional approach, which sees relational structures and internal dispositions as the causes of phenomena". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=37196 | 340,004 |
950,988 | Traditionally effective masses were measured using cyclotron resonance, a method in which microwave absorption of a semiconductor immersed in a magnetic field goes through a sharp peak when the microwave frequency equals the cyclotron frequency formula_17. In recent years effective masses have more commonly been determined through measurement of band structures using techniques such as angle-resolved photo emission (ARPES) or, most directly, the de Haas–van Alphen effect. Effective masses can also be estimated using the coefficient γ of the linear term in the low-temperature electronic specific heat at constant volume formula_18. The specific heat depends on the effective mass through the density of states at the Fermi level and as such is a measure of degeneracy as well as band curvature. Very large estimates of carrier mass from specific heat measurements have given rise to the concept of heavy fermion materials. Since carrier mobility depends on the ratio of carrier collision lifetime formula_19 to effective mass, masses can in principle be determined from transport measurements, but this method is not practical since carrier collision probabilities are typically not known a priori. The optical Hall effect is an emerging technique for measuring the free charge carrier density, effective mass and mobility parameters in semiconductors. The optical Hall effect measures the analogue of the quasi-static electric-field-induced electrical Hall effect at optical frequencies in conductive and complex layered materials. The optical Hall effect also permits characterization of the anisotropy (tensor character) of the effective mass and mobility parameters. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=156706 | 950,484 |
1,832,713 | Americans perceived their principal operating theater would be the Pacific, where immense distances between refueling bases placed a premium on carrier speed and range. Threats were likely to come from other warships, either as enemy aircraft or ship's guns, rather than from land-based planes or batteries. Carrier-launched strikes would involve fewer aircraft and each would carry less of a payload, consisting of 250 lb and 500 lb bombs, compared to land-based aircraft. Also, war-games indicated the ability to strike first and decisively was important for success. Strong first strikes against enemy carriers were expected to reduce or eliminate their ability to counter-attack, reducing the need for strong defensive measures. As a result of these considerations, Americans placed greater emphasis on aircraft striking power than upon survivability when attacked. Accordingly, carriers were designed to carry more aircraft and aircraft components at the expense of more anti-aircraft guns and flight deck armor. To further increase the number of aircraft carried, large numbers of them were kept on the flight deck in addition to those kept below in hangars. In the Pacific, storms that could toss or wash deck-park aircraft overboard were uncommon and could theoretically be navigated around. Finally, within a year of the beginning of the Pacific War, America's industrial capacity enabled them to rapidly make good their carrier losses, enabling them to take greater risks with their carriers to achieve greater success. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=65456901 | 1,831,665 |
2,138,908 | Under the provisions of the Civil Aviation Act aircraft in flight are specifically exempted from trespass and nuisance controls, which denies any form of redress to those living near airports who are disturbed by noise. Government sanctioned measurements of noise near airports take an average sound level, measured in decibels (dB), over a 16‑hour day, and are expressed as an LAeq figure. Officially, 57 dB LAeq is the threshold at which noise levels become disturbing, 63 dB LAeq represents moderate disturbance, whilst 69 dB LAeq represents high disturbance. Technological improvements in aircraft design means that aircraft are becoming quieter. Taking Heathrow as an example, between 1990 and 2004 the area around the airport affected by noise levels of 57 db LAeq and above fell by 60 per cent, whilst the number of people similarly affected fell by 51 per cent. Campaign groups dispute the methodology used to measure noise, asserting that it is flawed in a number of ways. Amongst other issues they point to the World Health Organisation view that annoyance begins at 50 db LAeq whilst serious annoyance begins at 55 dB LAeq, and they assert that the LAeq measurement does not give sufficient weight to the increasing incidence of noise events. Their conclusion is that noise levels, and the number of people affected, have increased rather than decreased. This is borne out by the latest survey of attitudes to noise published in November 2007 which reports that, compared with over 20 years ago, more people today are annoyed by the same level of noise as measured by LAeq. Whilst this may be attributable to changing attitudes, the report concludes that the contribution of aircraft numbers to annoyance has increased, and that an alternative method of estimating levels of annoyance that takes this into account would appear to be more relevant than the LAeq measurement. The report has attracted criticism in peer reviews, and one such review, characterising the survey as inconclusive, counsels "... against using the detailed results and conclusions [...] in the development of government policy." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=14120583 | 2,137,678 |
1,655,319 | An ectomycorrhizal species, "Lactarius sanguifluus" fruit bodies grow on the ground in association with pine trees on calcareous soils. "L. sanguifluus" is widely distributed in Himachal Pradesh in India, where it has been noted to grow in mixed coniferous forests, usually under the fern "Onychium contiguum". It is widespread in Southern Europe, where it fruits between September and November (extending to December in the southernmost regions of the continent). In the Netherlands, it was found in calcareous dunes, growing in a warm, sunny and sheltered place at the edge of a woods dominated in pine species. From Europe, it has also been recorded in Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Slovakia, Sweden, and Switzerland. In Africa, the species has been collected in Morocco; in Asia, it occurs in Vietnam and China. It is listed in the Red Data Book of the Ukraine, and appeared in a draft red list for Spain as an endangered edible species considered vulnerable due to uncontrolled commercial picking. To illustrate, a September 1998 newspaper report was cited, which reported that of "L. sanguifluus" mushrooms picked in Poligny were seized from a van. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=26443112 | 1,654,387 |
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